UW-Madison freshman Gregory Simpson died from injuries incurred by the trampling he experienced while leaving his Physics 201 lecture Tuesday morning.
Simpson and hundreds of other students were departing Chamberlin room 2103 as Simpson was crushed to death by the soles of dozens of his classmates’ feet.
“It seemed just like any other trip up the steps out of lecture,” an anonymous classmate said. “I saw him face down on my way out. I’m not sure if I stepped on him or not. I was just trying to exit without suffocating!”
Though this is the first death, the Tuesday trampling marked the seventh time this semester alone that a student has been hospitalized due to lecture hall injuries from classmates. The university issued a statement regarding the dangers of attending class in addition to their multi-year plan for improving conditions.
“After the physical trauma experienced by our students this semester, we are committed to making classes safer,” the statement read. “We looked into the idea of not having 400 students enrolled in a course with one lecture section in a room of only 300 seats, but determined that we are still many deaths and much negative publicity away from that.”
Simpson’s family has filed a lawsuit against UW-Madison.
“The university is responsible for Greg’s unjust death,” Simpson’s mother told Daily Cardinal reporters. “The other students are to be forgiven. They were understandably fighting for their lives as well.”
The professor who held lecture three minutes late could not be reached for comment.
