UC San Diego student died after falling from a dorm bathroom window, officials say

An 18-year-old student at UC San Diego died early Oct. 23 after he fell out of a bathroom window at a dormitory at the La Jolla campus, San Diego County officials said.

The county medical examiner’s office reported that Aaron Fan was at a party on the eighth floor the night of Oct. 22. Following a noise complaint, a campus officer entered the room and saw Fan go into the bathroom, the report said. A short time later, around 11:45 p.m., witnesses saw Fan fall from the bathroom window to the ground below.

Fan was taken to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was diagnosed with multiple injuries and was pronounced dead.

The death came while the university was in the midst of its annual homecoming celebration this weekend.

“I write with a heavy heart this morning to share that we lost a member of the [John] Muir College community overnight,” Muir Provost K. Wayne Yang stated in an email to students Oct. 23.

Muir is one of seven undergraduate residential campuses at UCSD.

“As we work to better understand the circumstances and respect the privacy of our student’s family, I want to assure you that we are here to support one another,” Yang said. “In this time of tragedy, let us speak respectfully of the dead. Let us treat each other with kindness. Let us be patient with each other’s emotions.”

Some students said they had questions about the case.

“This is an incredible tragedy,” said Manu Agni, president of Associated Students at UCSD. “Everyone needs to respect the privacy of the victim and his family. But the university needs to be transparent about what happened and how it happened to make sure it never happens again.”

UCSD campus police are investigating. ◆