Cornell Student Attacked; Racial Motive Suspected/Pretty Bloody Obvious

by | June 13, 2011 at 12:56 pm

UPDATE (June 15th): In what is now old news, the perpetrator has been captured. His name is Viktor P. Nikulin, which is exactly the kind of name we expected him to have. He sounds like one of those “militiamen” who sits on a lawn chair at the border with a walkie-talkie and a gun, shouting racial epithets at anyone passing through the desert on the other side.

For more information, check out the Cornell Sun’s article here.

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We Ivy Leaguers like to have a go at each other occasionally. Alright, a lot. But 90 percent of the time, we’re actually friends … half the time. And when one part of the body is hurting, mama grizzlies attack, or however the saying goes.

Basically, when you mess with one of us, you’re really messing with all of us.

On the 5th of June, while most of us were lounging around pretending like we “chose” to not do internships this summer so that we could “work” on that “novel”, a Cornell University student (whose name has not been released) was getting hated on. Literally. The student, of Asian descent, was attacked after having ethnic slurs shouted at him. So the conclusion seems obvious: he was racially assaulted.

Details, courtesy of the Ithaca Journal:

An Asian male reported that he was riding his bicycle along College Avenue near the intersection with Campus Road when four individuals in a silver or white sedan yelled racial epithets at him, according to the university’s police. The sedan then followed the man, still on his bicycle, onto West Avenue where he dismounted from the bike. The vehicle stopped and two white men approached the cyclist, and one assaulted him.

The men got back into the sedan, fleeing northbound on West Avenue. Both witnesses and the complainant described the assailant as a shirtless white male who wore yellow basketball shorts. The driver of the sedan was described as a white female in a black dress and sunglasses. The fourth passenger was described only as a white male.

Straightforward–or it least it should be. The CoPo have asked the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office if this act can be considered a hate crime. Our legal team here at IvyGate deliberated over this one for a while, coming up with the following conclusion: No shit, of course it is.

Despite information from several witnesses, there seems to be nothing conclusive to point to the identity of the attackers. The Cornell Police still believe there are more witnesses who haven’t come forward and are asking anyone who could be of help to call 607-255-1111.

As soon as they find those guys (and gal), those attackers sure are going to get it. They should’ve messed with someone from some school that doesn’t matter, like Ithaca College, instead of an Ivy League school. Seriously, xenophobes. You are so dumb. We gon’ find you.

None of these new-found protective feelings change the fact that Cornell is the poor man’s Dartmouth, though.

As for the victim, himself: You’ll be glad to hear that he is alright, having been discharged from the hospital that same day. In any event, we wish him a speedy recovery.

Note: IvyGate spoke with the Cornell University Police Department for the purposes of this article. The Tompkins County D.A. was also contacted, but we were unable to receive any comment.

 
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  • http://twitter.com/erikagwen Erika Swain

    despite the number of schools in the area (4 or 5 that “don’t matter” and Cornell – all within a 25 mile radius) the locals are surprisingly thick. 

    • Anonymous

      While you can find the militiaman stereotype in this part on New York, they tend not to have been raised in Ithaca by computer-science professor parents as this kid was.

  • excuse me?

    “None of these new-found protective feelings change the fact that Cornell is the poor man’s Dartmouth, though.”
    Relevant/appropriate at all? 

  • Tiger ’12

    “They should’ve messed with someone from some school that doesn’t matter, like Ithaca College, instead of an Ivy League school.”

    What a sickening sentence.  I literally shudder to contemplate the worldview of someone who thinks that it’s ok to express such feudalistic contempt for non-ivy leaguers in such a public forum – even in jest.  Make no mistake: hundreds of people currently attending “some school that doesn’t matter” are destined for more greatness and recognition than Mr. Saeed will ever attain, and they will do so without having allowed such entitled drivel to even cross their minds.

    Mr. Saeed had better pray that this paragraph is fast forgotten.  Otherwise, I wish him the best of luck getting hired by non-Ivy Leaguers / Ivy Leaguers who don’t think that belonging to an athletic conference places them in some omnipotent ruling class, or licenses them to piss on everyone who’s not in the club.

    • Cornell’15

      I don’t think you’re supposed to take this literally. Since you’re from Princeton, I am not sure you know about the playful dynamic between the two schools. 

  • c’12

    COOOOOL STORY BRO forging together a steaming pile of bs off the cornell police blotter. 

    • Anonymous

      Cool story bro

  • CU06

    they arrested his ass by the way http://www.ithacaindy.com/1616/ithaca-man-charged-with-assaulting-asian-cornell-student/

    • CU ’10

      According to Cornell people search, the accused assailant is a temporary service worker for Statler hotel banquets.  Fucker. 

  • Wang Chung

    I’m asian, and i’ll tell you that he should’ve whooped that guys ass. We all come standard with the ninja package.

  • Guest

    Video of the perp (interviewed about gorge death earlier this year, scroll down for video and last few seconds):
    http://weny.com/News-Local.asp?ARTICLE3864=9160049

  • Guest

    the tone of this article is just awful.

  • student

    re:  “UPDATE (June 15th): In what is now old news, the
    perpetrator has been captured. His name is Viktor P. Nikulin, which is
    exactly the kind of name we expected him to have. He sounds like one of
    those “militiamen” who sits on a lawn chair at the border with a
    walkie-talkie and a gun, shouting racial epithets at anyone passing
    through the desert on the other side.”

    Umm…why is it suddenly ok to say we expected this guy to be Russian?  “the kind of name…” etc.  Hello?  Doesn’t anyone see that this is racist, much like the original attack?

  • Guest

    Your assumption that Nikulin is “one of those “militiamen” who sits on a lawn chair at the border with a walkie-talkie and a gun, shouting racial epithets at anyone passing through the desert on the other side” is almost humorous when you’re sitting here talking about a suspected hate crime. Even if this was a racially-motivated crime, your assumption of the assailant is only adding to stereotypes and the hatred of others, which may be the cause of this crime in the first place. And don’t assume that those who live in Ithaca and the police men and women there are stupid because they don’t automatically assume it’s a hate crime. Of course it sounds like it is to those of us on the outside, but I’m sure that there is more to the crime that has not been released by police yet. In no way am I condoning his behavior, it is a horrible crime, but one shouldn’t assume that it’s a hate crime because of the fact that the assailant was ignorant and used racial slurs while fighting with the victim. Once all of the evidence is out, then you can make your conclusions, but as of right now, the police probably have more info than you, so if they’re unsure whether it was racially-motivated, they probably have reasons to be unsure.