Fallen Student Improves In Care

The undergraduate who fell from the ninth-floor of Leverett House Tower F last Thursday remains in “serious condition” at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

The student, Steven R. Snyder ’04-’08, was upgraded to “serious condition” on Friday, according to hospital spokesman Jerry Berger. As of yesterday, Snyder’s condition was still serious, said hospital spokeswoman Cindy Whitcome.

On Thursday, Snyder was listed in “critical condition.”

According to hospital policies, Beth Israel categorizes patients as “good,” “fair,” “serious,” and—most gravely—”critical.”

The hospital does not use the word “stable” in patient descriptions provided to journalists.

Snyder, who is 25, is a mathematics concentrator from Avon Lake, Ohio.

He fell at roughly 10:30 a.m. Thursday from the northwest side of Leverett House that faces DeWolfe Street.

He landed outside the fence that surrounds the Towers’ courtyard, according to a Leverett resident, Vaidya G. Rajagopalan ’08.

Rajagopalan said he was passing through the Tower’s courtyard when he heard the fall.

“I heard the rustle of leaves, and a second later, I heard a thud, and he was lying there,” he said. “He was on his back.”

The circumstances surrounding his fall are still unclear and Leverett House Master Howard Georgi said yesterday that he had no new information since Thursday.

Rooms in the Leverett Towers typically have one large window that doesn’t open and at least one smaller window that can be cranked open. The smaller windows are each about two feet wide and four feet high.

Snyder is no longer listed in the Harvard directory, although his name still appears in the Harvard College Facebook.

—Staff writer Stephanie S. Garlow can be reached at sgarlow@fas.harvard.edu.