Local activist kills herself on College Green

Kathy Change burnsKathy Change burnsto death in suicideKathy Change burnsto death in suicideintended to publicizeKathy Change burnsto death in suicideintended to publicizepolitical convictions Local activist Kathy Change set herself on fire and died in front of the peace symbol on College Green yesterday, in an attempt to draw attention to her political beliefs. University Police Officer Bill Dailey saw the fire and ran toward it, though he did not realize a person was burning until he came closer, Chief of Police Operations Maureen Rush said. With help from a bystander, Dailey covered Change in his patrol jacket and rolled her on the ground to smother the flames, Rush added. After putting out the fire, Dailey called for medical help and attended to Change until a Philadelphia Fire and Rescue team arrived and transported her to the hospital. "[Dailey] was very heroic," Rush said. "With the type of flames he was dealing with, he ignored his own safety to help this person." At approximately 11:20 a.m., Change ignited herself after dousing her body in gasoline and was pronounced dead at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania at 11:48 a.m., Philadelphia Police said. Police found several suicide notes in a push-cart roughly 15 feet away from where Change killed herself. For years, Change often danced and displayed flags near College Green to draw attention to her political views. She also distributed literature about the Transformation Party, which she founded. Change, who legally altered her name from Kathleen Chang, was 46. Approximately 50 people either saw Change on fire or watched as police and paramedics tried to save her life, Rush said. Counseling and Psychological Services Director Ilene Rosenstein met with roughly 35 residential staffers yesterday afternoon to update them on the suicide and offer advice on how to help their residents. Witnesses to the suicide may have trouble removing the image from their minds, Rosenstein said. "They may have disturbed sleep and eating habits, feel shaky and have trouble concentrating," she said. "There may be a sense of sadness for some." She added that anyone who knew Change or met her on campus may feel guilty or outraged at the community for not preventing her suicide. Rosenstein said while it is normal to react to the incident for several days, she wants to help community members prevent long-term disruptions. CAPS will hold counseling sessions today at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. in the Mellon Building for faculty, staff and students who need help dealing with Change's suicide, she said. Representatives from University Police, the Women's Center and the chaplain's office will attend the sessions. CAPS staffers will triage participants into group or individual counseling sessions, Rosenstein said. "It's really important that people talk about this," she added. "Even people who are quiet and keep to themselves need to talk in their community or in smaller groups." Several students who did not actually witness the event were also directly affected by Change's suicide. Before igniting herself, Change delivered packages of her writings, including a dialogue explaining why she chose to kill herself, to six students and two local residents with whom she had previously discussed her beliefs -- in addition to The Daily Pennsylvanian and other news organizations. Several students said Change left the packages for them at their residences at approximately 9 a.m. yesterday. College junior Brendan McGeever, who interviewed Change last November on Penn's student radio station WQHS-AM, read through the writings over breakfast -- before the suicide. "Her ideas, though they were founded on relatively ludicrous things, kind of made sense in a weird kind of way," he said. McGeever said he did not think Change would commit suicide when he read the packet. But, he added, he was not surprised she did so in such a violent, public way. Natalie Denney, a College sophomore who spoke to Change several weeks ago, also received the package early yesterday morning, but did not read it until after learning about the suicide. "It was a really intense moment," she said, adding that she read the writings with two friends. "It didn't sink in for a while." Denney, a film editor for 34th Street, said she and her friends were moved by Change's letters and asked College junior Josh Marcus to post some of Change's writings on the upenn.talk newsgroup. "We felt it was our obligation to do as much as we could so that it wouldn't just be gossip fodder," she added. The package included a written dialogue entitled "To be or not to be." In it, Change wrote that she hoped her suicide would help to promote her ideas on government, the economy, law and morality. "I want to give my message as much impact as possible," she wrote. "I truly believe that my death will make people more sympathetic towards me and interested in my work and ideas." The dialogue indicates that she had attempted suicide several times before. The package also included a final statement and a letter to The Philadelphia Inquirer asking the newspaper to print her written works. In her typed, three-page statement, dated October 7, Change railed against the U.S. government, the economy and the political inaction of the public. "I want to protest this entirely shameful state of affairs as emphatically as I can," she wrote. "I want to get publicity in order to draw attention to my proposal for immediate social transformation." She also recalled the press coverage of a woman who set herself on fire in Boston more than 10 years ago and said that she first planned to do the same last year, but chose to wait until now. "My real intention is to spark a discussion of how we can peacefully transform our world," she wrote in the manifesto's final paragraph. "I offer myself as an alarm against Armageddon and a torch for liberty."