It was difficult for President Hencken to stay home instead of rushing to campus when he was alerted about a student death on campus Dec. 2.

“I’m not the Vice President of Student Affairs anymore,” Hencken said.

He opted to stay home, instead, and follow the protocol by having the current Vice President of Student Affairs Dan Nadler respond when Mark Apa’s body was found in his room at the Pi Kappa Alpha house.

As the chair of the Emergency Management Team at Eastern, Nadler responded to the death along with the other appropriate members of EMT such as Jill Nilsen, Vice President for External Relations, Mark Hudson, director of university Housing and Dining, and Sandy Cox, director of the Counseling Center.

EMT is organized to respond in cases of a death, major accident or disaster on campus with appropriate protocols to follow for different situations.

In the case of a student death, the counseling center organizes the actions that follow, Cox said, by organizing an opportunity for friends to grieve together, speak to counselors and organize memorial services.

“A situation like this falls more under our area,” Cox said. “The counseling center has a plan and the EMT kicks in to see how they can collaborate with that.”

Housing and dining can be involved by making the needed housing accommodations and by providing food for the affected parties.

If the situation involves a member of a fraternity or sorority, Greek Life will be involved. Also, Academic Affairs will respond to make arrangements for students who might need time away from class. University police and the communications office also play a role.

“Different people play different parts,” Cox said. “There are few departments on campus with a student death that isn’t in some way helping.”

While there are protocols to follow for such an occasion, there is no way to predict how to deal with a student death because each case is different.

“There’s a certain protocol,” Hencken said. “But you have to improvise because you never now what you’re going to find. You always get training in this and you hope that it never happens.”

Cox described Eastern’s reaction to student deaths as being compassionate, comprehensive and collaborate driven by a caring philosophy of the administration.

“I’m overwhelmed with the level of compassion Eastern has,” she said. “Ours is one of the greatest, most compassionate responses that I have seen, and I think it’s important that people understand that.”