The Northwestern School of Continuing Studies is planning a prayer service early next week in memory of 25-year-old SCS student Brian Tsay, who was found dead in a University Library bathroom Sunday.
The Northfield, Ill., native’s cause of death was unclear and pending toxicology results after an examination by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office Monday. A library staffer discovered his body at 9:20 a.m., and paramedics determined he had no vital signs.
Thomas Gibbons, dean of the SCS, wrote in an e-mail Wednesday that the community is “very saddened” by the death. The school will also recognize Tsay with a moment of silence at its June 19 Convocation program, he wrote.
“Brian was a strong student who had come to the school to prepare himself for the next chapter in his career,” Gibbons wrote. “He was appreciated as a hardworking and kind person by many of his fellow students and faculty.
“Our sympathy and thoughts are with (Tsay’s) family in their loss,” he wrote.
A man who answered the phone at Tsay’s Northfield, Ill., address said he was the student’s father and declined to comment.
The family would like to keep the death as private as possible, the man said.
“He was a wonderful boy, and that’s how I want him to be remembered,” he said.
The library, 1970 Campus Drive, was closed Sunday and reopened Monday at 8:30 a.m.
Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Tom Guenther said EPD is working jointly with University Police to investigate. Police do not suspect foul play.
A spokesman at the medical examiner’s office said no determination would be made on the cause of Tsay’s death until the toxicology test results are released; those reports usually take six to eight weeks, according to another spokeswoman. Both declined to be named.
“They need to see if there were any substances in the body that could have contributed to the subject’s death,” Guenther said.
The doctor who performed a preliminary investigation on the body made no indication of pre-existing medical conditions, said another spokeswoman at the office who declined to be named.
Dr. Adam Negrusz, a forensic toxicologist and an associate professor of forensic science at University of Illinois at Chicago, said the testing process is meticulous and time-consuming.
“I wouldn’t advise any speculations,” he said.
Negrusz, who said he worked at the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office about 20 years ago, said the office was unlikely to release any partial toxicology tests until the full report was done.
According to a LinkedIn page, Tsay graduated from the University of Michigan in 2008 with a bachelor of arts in economics and was in a post-baccalaureate finance certificate program at NU.
At Michigan, Tsay participated in the Economics Society, the MBA Finance Club and the Boxing Club, according to the LinkedIn page.
“On behalf of Northwestern, I offer our deepest sympathy to our student’s family, friends and fellow students,” Vice President for Student Affairs William Banis wrote in an e-mail announcing the death to NU students and staff Sunday afternoon. “The death of any one member of our community affects all of us.”
Banis’ e-mail also informed students that Counseling and Psychological Services was available to students seeking assistance following the death.
University President Morton O. Schapiro declined to comment Monday given the family’s request for privacy.
Melanie Wang, president of the SCS Student Advisory Board, said the death had made her realize the close tie between SCS and the University community.
“We can come together as a broader community to support the people who have been affected by (Tsay’s death),” said Wang, who is studying public policy and administration.
SCS allows students to pursue both graduate and undergraduate degrees as well as certificates. It offers night classes at NU’s downtown campus, making it convenient for students with jobs and families who live near downtown.
Students, who have an average age of 24, take classes on both the Chicago and Evanston campuses.
Wang said the death was a “big shock” for everyone in the student body.
“From the SAB perspective, it’s a struggle to get a sense of Northwestern’s broader community,” Wang said. “Seeing one of our students on the news and the tragedy that has happened, it hits home for us that our students are just as much a part of Northwestern.”
Tsay was found the day after Dillo Day, an all-day music festival sometimes associated with heavy student drinking. There were no indications that the death was related to Dillo Day festivities.
