Photo: Bloomberg
Cornell University is canceling classes on Friday (November 3) in response to the arrest of a student for making violent and anti-Semitic threats.
Patrick Dai, a 21-year-old junior at the university, was arrested for allegedly making several online posts over the weekend threatening to rape and kill Jewish students and their families. The graphic posts included threats to "shoot up" the school, "behead" babies in front of their parents, and "rape" female students before throwing them "off a cliff."
Dai was charged in federal court with posting threats to kill or injure another using interstate communications.
Dai's threats left the Jewish community at the school on edge as anti-Israeli protests have popped up in cities around the world amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
In a letter to students and faculty, Michael Kotlikoff, the vice president for student and campus life, and Christine Lovely, vice president, and chief human resources officer, said they hope the day off will give everybody a chance to relieve some of the "extraordinary stress" the campus has been under over the past few weeks.
"No classes will be held, and faculty and staff will be excused from work, except for employees who provide essential services," the email said, according to the Cornell Daily Sun. "We hope that everyone will use this restorative time to take care of yourselves and reflect on how we can nurture the kind of caring, mutually supportive community that we all value."