THE HORROR of new students at the quality of the bathrooms, the kitchen wildlife and the leaky ceilings in Camp- bell House East was overshad- owed last month by something far more shocking. Details were revealed through an article in London Student, which resi- dents plastered on doors throughout the house. This was the first confirmed information about the death in Campbell House East of mature student Steve McDonald in June. Ru- mours had been circulating, but no official information had been released by either UCL or the Campbell House manage- ment.
The management appar- ently thought that this was a matter of too little importance to be communicated to the cur- rent inhabitants of Campbell House East, especially the ones who have to live in his room less than three months after he died there. The management are a miracle of judgement: they have even less faith in the in- vestigative powers of London Student journalists than they deserve (the article let off the management lightly, and named someone who wished not to be), but even they forgot about the astounding power of inter- college gossip. In order to get rid of the misinformation that has been circulating by gossip or the London Student article, former inhabitants of Campbell House East and some other sources who prefer to remain anonymous provided The Cheese Grater with the follow- ing facts.
At the start of the first term, MacDonald, 44, taking a BSc degree in palaeobiology, was acting oddly. He was hos- tile at times, made other stu- dents feel uncomfortable, and several inhabitants complained about his behaviour to the man- agement. However, his behav- iour took a turn for the worse around Christmas: he stopped attending lectures, stopped washing and eating, was seen drunk regularly in the halls, and was sick in the toilets. Accord- ing to several accounts, his skin actually acquired a green hue, and concern started to spread. The management forwarded the case to the Dean of Students, Professor John Foreman.
What happened next is unclear. On being asked what was going on, the halls man- agement said it was in the Dean’s hands; according to a resident who spoke to them, a halls manager said she’d report- ed it to the Dean and that he did not look too concerned. We were not able to check this with Campbell House management as they refused to comment. Despite his increasingly diffi- cult conduct, the management refrained from contacting the police. MacDonald was last seen around a week and a half before term ended. By this time a strong smell was coming from the basement. The cleaners had though this was due to large amounts of rubbish, but after clearing it away, it did not go. The cleaners carried on as be- fore. On July 10 th , after the term had ended, the door of his room was finally, which its opener regretted as they discov- ered what lay behind it. What- ever it looked like, Campbell House is frequented by rats. According to a police report left lying on a halls windowsill his is being treated as a ‘sudden death’, possibly of a heart at- tack caused by alcohol abuse.
Since then, no official statements have been made about it; no-one in Campbell House East has been told any- thing about it by the manage- ment; no-one has asked the Dean about his handling of the case, with whom the welfare buck stops; no press articles have been published except in London Student and as from today, The Cheese Grater. This deep and unanimous silence is peculiar, since the media would be the first to pick up on any- thing even remotely resembling a scandal. It is difficult to es- cape feelings of a cover-up.
Asked about the events, The Dean of Students repeated his response to London Stu- dent: “I have prepared a full report on the circumstances relating to the death of Mr MacDonald for the Provost. A copy was also sent to the Cor- oner.” He stated that the cause of death was not yet known, and insisted that “Several wel- fare support agencies were in- volved and made strenuous ef- forts to provide assistance to Mr MacDonald, including me.” In declining to comment further, he stated that the per- sonal issues relating to McDon- ald are confidential.
Whatever did happen to Steven MacDonald, a remark- able wall of silence has pre- dominated at Campbell House since June. The halls manage- ment are meant to keep his room empty but have re-occu- pied the room as though noth- ing had happened. Their resi- dents, however, are unlikely to forget in a hurry.