The woman who was hospitalized moved out of the dorm today. A group of hallmates were leaving for lunch and we each hugged her in turn. Was she going to be here when we got back? someone asked. She shook her head no. She waved goodbye to us as we left the hall, fighting to keep her face composed, eyes glassy from the effort of keeping the tears back.

I asked a friend of hers if he thought she was going to be all right, and he said he thought so. But she wasn't going to come back. "Imagine having to do all those classes again," he said. "I mean, if she came back next term, at least she'd know everyone in our section still..." he trailed off. "But if she didn't want to be a lawyer anyway, that's a different problem."

We walked along the street in silence for a few moments. "We all knew there was a problem," he reflected. "She really hated it here, and we all knew she was drinking too much, but we just -- we didn't do anything."