Ithaca , New York ( CNN ) -- Two suspected cases of suicide on the Cornell University campus have officially been confirmed by the Tompkins County chief medical examiner , bringing the total number of suicides for the academic year to six . Cornell officials had previously said authorities confirmed four other deaths at the school as suicides . The medical examiner says his office has been in touch with the families of the latest suicide victims . `` They have all been made aware of the manner of death , '' Dr. Howard Socoff told CNN . The rash of cases has rocked the highly competitive Ivy League school in central New York State . The most recent suicides came on successive days and prompted the university 's mental health initiatives director , Timothy Marchell , to declare a `` public health crisis . '' In February , a freshman jumped off a bridge over one of the area 's well-known gorges . The body of a sophomore engineering major was found March 11 under similar circumstances . Police are also searching for a body in another suicide witnessed March 12 . David Skorton , who became president of Cornell in 2005 , has been praised by counselors for encouraging openness on an issue that many schools try to cover up . In an e-mail to students on Friday , he encouraged them to use available suicide-prevention resources . Skorton placed full-page ads in the university newspaper , The Cornell Daily Sun , every day this week , which read , `` If you learn anything at Cornell , please learn to ask for help . It is a sign of wisdom and strength . '' The message may be getting through . The first sentence of the quote has been written in chalk on one of the bridges where the suicides took place . The cause of the wave of suicides is unclear , Marchell said . The national average for school suicides is 7.29 per year for every 100,000 students , said Paula Clayton , medical director of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention . That means Cornell , with 19,639 students , should average fewer than two suicides a year . Cornell had no suicides from 2005 to 2008 , according to Marchell . And the school has consistently fallen within or below the national average , said Karen Carr , assistant dean of students at Cornell . The school has been praised by psychologists such as Keith Anderson , chairman of the American College Health Association 's Mental Health Best Practices Task Force , for counseling and prevention programs that confront the issue of student suicide with comprehensive training and understanding . Cornell responded to a cluster of suicides in the late 1990s with comprehensive training for members of the university community . Everyone on campus , including janitors , administrators , residential advisers and professors , is trained to look for symptoms of depression . Freshmen are screened for indicators of psychological disorders , and multiple counseling services are available for students in need . `` I know that they 've been doing a lot of outreach efforts to educate the community . Cornell is kind of a model in some ways , '' said Anderson , a staff psychologist at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , in Troy , New York . In response to the current wave of suicides , Cornell will `` strengthen the capacity of the community to know what to do , '' Marchell said . `` They will be showing nonmental health professionals what role they can play and help students and faculty get the kind of support that they need . '' The school also has posted guards to monitor the bridges over the gorges . On Wednesday , campus clubs such as Cornell Minds Matters took part in a schoolwide event to promote mental health awareness . CNN 's Cassie Spodak contributed to this report .
Rash of cases has rocked the Ivy League school in central New York State . Medical examiner : Office has been in touch with families of latest suicide victims . School has been praised by psychologists for its openness about the suicides . Comment: