NY Fordham University Student Sydney Monfries Dies After Campus Fall From Bronx Clock Tower

THE BRONX, NY. (THECOUNT) — Fordham University officials are investigating how their student, Sydney Monfries, of Portland, Oregon, gained access to the school bell tower, which is normally locked.

Monfries, 22, died in a hospital Sunday just a few hours after falling three stories from the campus clock tower, according to reports. She was taking shots for her Instagram when the tragic accident occurred Sunday.

Monfries was a senior studying journalism at the Bronx school where officials say they plan on awarding her a posthumous bachelor’s degree.

The victim was getting ready to graduate in a few weeks when she and other students decided to sneak up to the top of the bell tower at Keating Hall at the university Bronx campus early Sunday morning, The New York Times reported. Monfries somehow fell through an opening in a landing and plunged 30 feet down the inside of the tower. She was critically hurt, with injuries to her head and body, police said.She was rushed to a nearby hospital but died several hours later, reports AJC.

School President Joseph McShane wrote: ‘It is with great sadness that I report that Sydney Monfries, a senior at Fordham College at Rose Hill, died today after sustaining a fall inside the Keating Clock tower in the early hours of the morning.

Although Keating Hall is locked and closed at night and access to the tower is restricted at all times, students still manage to find a way in to climb to the top of the Gothic tower to see the skyline, school administrators said. Students told the Times that climbing the tower is a “storied rite of passage.”

Geo quick facts: The Bronx is a borough of New York City. It’s known for Yankee Stadium, the home field of the New York Yankees baseball team. Dating from 1899, the vast Bronx Zoo houses hundreds of species of animals. Nearby, the sprawling New York Botanical Garden features a landmark greenhouse with rainforest and cactus displays. By the Hudson River, Wave Hill is a landscaped public garden with wooded paths and a cultural center – wikipedia.