Cornell students shocked by arrest of fellow student Patrick Dai for antisemitic threats
NEW YORK -- A Cornell University engineering student faced a federal judge Wednesday afternoon accused of promoting the murder of Jewish students on campus.
From a student at the prestigious Cornell School of Engineering to a suspect in federal custody, prosecutors say 21-year-old Patrick Dai threatened to kill Jewish students at Cornell University and "shoot up" an on-campus kosher dining facility.
"Obviously completely vile, and completely unacceptable for something like that to be happening on a college campus in America in 2023," Cornell student Gavi Schechter said.
"I really don't think, and I don't believe, that somebody at Cornell would make such evil and vile and disgusting threats," student Sam Friedman said.
But federal investigators said that's exactly what happened when Dai posted graphic threats online against Jewish students.
"It doesn't feel like we're living in 2023. Feels like we're living in Nazi Germany," one student said.
Dai is Chinese American who grew up in Pittsford, N.Y., about 80 miles from the Ithaca campus.
The FBI arrested Dai late Tuesday, after tracing his IP address to the one used to post the threats online. According to the criminal complaint, Dai admitted what he did to federal agents.
"I can't imagine what would go through the mind of someone like that. First of all, you are making threats on this random website, like, why would you do that? I think it is really ridiculous, and I am glad that the person was taken into custody," student Levi Schmuel said.
Jewish students at the Ivy League school are outraged and terrified.
"Do you feel safe there right now?" CBS New York's Jessica Moore asked.
"I would say, compared to how I felt in September, no," Schechter said.
"Even my family, last night we had a discussion whether it's safe for me to be on campus or whether I should come back home," student Davian Gekman said.
Overnight, Cornell University released a statement condemning the horrific threats, and expressing gratitude to the FBI.
"Cornell University is grateful to the FBI for working so swiftly to identify and apprehend the suspect in this case, a Cornell student, who remains in custody. We also thank Cornell Police and Chief Anthony Bellamy for extraordinary efforts in supporting the investigation and protecting our campus community. The university will continue to provide assistance to law enforcement and the U.S. Attorney's Office as this case moves forward," Vice President for University Relations Joel Malina said. "We remain shocked by and condemn these horrific, antisemitic threats and believe they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. We know that our campus community will continue to support one another in the days ahead. Cornell Police will maintain its heightened security presence on campus as the university continues to focus on supporting the needs of our students, faculty and staff."
Dai was immediately suspended upon his arrest, the university said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday she wants Dai to face the harshest punishment possible, and is looking into whether state charges could also be filed against him.
"I want to make an example of this. As I said earlier to those students - if you do this, you will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Hochul said.
In federal court Wednesday, Dai waived his right to a bail hearing.
If convicted, Dai faces five years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, since Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, there has been a nearly 400% increase in antisemitic incidents in the U.S. The FBI said Jewish and Muslim Americans are being targeted.
"We've already seen that with the individual we arrested last week in Houston, who'd been studying how to build bombs and posted online about his support for killing Jews. And with the tragic killing of a 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois, in what we're investigating as a federal hate crime," FBI Director Christopher Wray said.