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Comment by Borrible | Hacker News Reader

> The institute is also said to have started to restrict student access to terraces and rooftops

Apparently, they already thought about that.

Assuming teenagers and low 20 something’s are the similar the world over, they should have restricted access to terraces and rooftops for a variety of reasons unrelated to suicide. Alcohol and heights tend not to be very close friends, and my college restricted access to the latter as much as they could (the former was a lost cause).

As a father of two in that age group, I would prefer to restrict their access especially to my precious world of perfect tranquility.

Assuming teenagers and low 20 something's are the similar the world over, which I find a bit debatable, there still is the question whether there were or are better models to cope with puberty and coming of age for the individual and society.

Honestly my university giving us rooftop access for working on and setting up radio equipment was one of the most educational and enriching things I did there. Restricting access to rooftops for students seems like a terrible idea for education, where a lot of science literally happens on rooftops, whether with antennas or telescopes. (some students used the rooftop access to monitor fukushima reactor radiation in the atmosphere as well!)

Also: Never had a single accident or suicide for over 2 decades

You could get a ladder if you need a rooftop for a science project, right?

There's a big difference between "we're going to the rooftop for a project" and "we just left the rooftop door permanently unlocked". The former is fine, the latter is where I'd say that the University is probably making a mistake.

Exceptions of course for high traffic rooftops specifically designed for human occupation, with appropriate amenities and guard rails. The ones my university locked off were either full of industrial equipment (ACs, etc.), or had low stone ledges that were no longer up to modern spec. Closing them off was the right call.

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