A 17-year-old Green River College student from China died last month after a night of partying.
Yang Chen was found unresponsive by his roommates early in the morning on Feb. 20 at a residence on Auburn’s Lea Hill. Chen was declared dead at the house, Auburn Police spokesman Steve Stocker said.
Chen’s cause of death has not been determined, but Stocker said alcohol may have been a factor.
“There were multiple signs of drinking,” he said. “There was alcohol stuff everywhere in the house.”
Investigators have ruled out foul play. According to the King County Medical Examiner’s Office it could take eight to 10 weeks to get toxicology results. Stocker said investigators were working to determine where the alcohol came from.
“Some of the statements (from witnesses) are in Chinese, so we have to get them translated,” Stocker said.
Chen enrolled at the college last spring in the Intensive Language as a Second Language program. About 1,700 international students attend Green River. Chen’s family arrived in the U.S. on Feb. 25, said Ross Jennings, Green River’s vice president of International Programs and Extended Learning.
“We are doing everything we can to help the family,” he said.
About 200 of Chen’s friends and classmates attended a memorial service for Chen on Tuesday.
Jennings said Chen’s death has been difficult for his classmates. Chen and four other international students rented a house in a subdivision near 124th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 304th Place, about a mile north of Green River’s main campus in Auburn.
Jennings said international students are assigned to campus housing or a host family when they first arrive.
“We can’t require them legally to stay there, but we highly recommend they live in campus housing or with a host family until they are 18,” he said.
Chen lived with a host family during his first three months in the U.S. but convinced his parents to allow him to room with friends after a minor disagreement with his host family, Jennings said.
Jennings said the program policy and procedures will be reviewed in light of the incident.
“This is the first alcohol-related death we have had,” Jennings said. “Whenever something like this happens, we will look at it. Anything we can do to improve safety of kids, we will.”
When they arrive on campus, international students take part in a week-long orientation, which covers all aspects of living in the U.S., including safety and culture, Jennings said.
Students also participate in the Foundation for Success program, which pairs a new international student with a current student, usually one who speaks the same language or is from the same culture. The new students meet with their mentors once or twice a week for three months to help acclimate to American culture.
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