Ex-Santorum Campaign Worker Jumps To Death After Stabbing Former Classmate

[KamaAina]

The New Haven attempted murder-suicide gets curiouser and curiouser.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/yale-student-stabs-classmate-jumps-death

A man who graduated from Yale University last week stabbed a fellow student at an off-campus apartment building Tuesday morning before jumping out of a ninth-floor window to his death, police said....

Tyler Carlisle, who majored in philosophy and worked on Republican political campaigns, fell six stories onto a third-floor ledge of the building after stabbing 21-year-old Alexander Michaud, New Haven police said. Authorities haven't released details on what happened before the stabbing....

Both Carlisle and Michaud, who is due to graduate in 2017, were from Manchester, New Hampshire, according to their Facebook pages. Both men also were active in The Party of the Right, a conservative group that bills itself as the "right-most" of the seven parties in the Yale Political Union debate and political organization....

Carlisle was the manager of Republican Joseph Bentivegna's failed campaign for Connecticut's 4th Congressional District last year. He also worked for Rick Santorum's GOP campaign for president in 2012.

Ah yes, the POR. I, too, was a member of the Political Union. I was, in fact, the Saybrook College (dorm) whip for the Liberal Party. Since Saybrook was a very Red college, I only had to slip a few flyers under people's doors every couple of weeks. A favorite PU activity is "dichotomies". It goes like this: "DU or FR?" "DU." "Rand Paul or a rabid ferret? "Rabid ferret." And so on. Here's the POR's favorite: "Hitler or Stalin?" "Stalin." "6 million or 23 million?"

POR alumni include none other than CNN's Fareed Zakaria, who was a year behind me.

[Divernan]

1. More from Yale Daily News

I consider this incident evidence of the link between mental illness and the far right, including but not limited to Rick Santorum supporters. It's a damn shame that two such young lives have been destroyed. To paraphrase my favorite 60's anti-war poster: Conservatism is not mentally healthy for children and other living things. Yale offers so much to its undergrads - my son had 4 terrific years there (Pierson/Bart Giamatti era). His graduation week activities? What a delightful and proud time for me as a single parent of a summa cum laude, with distinction in the major graduate! At the same time, he and his friends were protesting/demonstrating for Yale University to withdraw all of its investments from companies doing business in apartheid South Africa. That graduation weekend was one of the highlights of my life.

I cannot begin to imagine the pain suffered by the families of these two young men.

http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/05/26/developing-police-investigate-stabbing-and-suicide-at-taft-apartments/
(excerpts)

According to initial reports, Carlisle, who graduated with a B.A. in philosophy last Monday, stabbed Michaud moments before jumping from the ninth floor of the building and landing on the third-floor terrace. He died at the scene. In a college-wide email, Yale College Dean Jonathan Holloway informed members of the community that Michaud was recovering from stab wounds at Yale-New Haven Hospital. At least one witness has been interviewed, according to a release from the NHPD.

Michaud and Carlisle were close friends, according to numerous students, and both were members of the Party of the Right, a constituent party of the Yale Political Union. The students also shared a hometown: Manchester, New Hampshire.

At the time of his death, Carlisle had plans to join the United States Army, several sources said. Raleigh Cavero ’15, calling Carlisle a close friend whom she saw as recently as last Tuesday, said he shared the apartment with another graduating senior but planned to turn over his keys to Michaud and another student who would be taking over the lease for the following academic year. Cavero, a former YTV editor for the News, said he was a mentor to Michaud. Though one source mentioned discord between the two students in the weeks leading up to the incident, most said they were unaware of anything but friendship and intellectual camaraderie.

Michaud was in a stable condition several hours following the incident, according to the NHPD release. A source with knowledge of Michaud’s condition, but who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the topic, said this evening that Michaud’s condition is “stable but not great.” Michaud was placed in a medically induced coma following the incident, the source said.

[KamaAina]

2. I might have known him!

I was part of the divestment demos, too. I even slept out in Beinecke Plaza one night. Imagine my surprise when I rolled over onto a bag of herb!

Saybrook '85 here, not summa but plain old cum laude.

[Divernan]

3. Sending you a PM - you may well have known him.

He played bass guitar in a little Yale rock group called Beauty Constant. They all got together a few years after graduation in NYC, played a few gigs there, recorded an album and did a little college tour.
http://wilfullyobscure.blogspot.com/2009/08/beauty-constant-like-enemy-1987.html

[KamaAina]

4. I've heard of Beauty Constant!

I may even have heard them once or twice!