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Former SUNY Potsdam student charged with making death threats to professor last spring

Posted 11/12/15

POTSDAM — A former SUNY Potsdam student has been arrested for making death threats to a professor last spring. Amjad Hussain was charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment/hate …

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Former SUNY Potsdam student charged with making death threats to professor last spring

Posted

POTSDAM — A former SUNY Potsdam student has been arrested for making death threats to a professor last spring.

Amjad Hussain was charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment/hate crime, felony, according to SUNY Potsdam President Kristin Esterberg.

Hussain was arraigned in Canton Town Court and an order of protection was issued for the professor and the professor’s family.

Hussain allegedly sent two written messages in April to the professor that included death threats as well as racist and homophobic vitriol, college officials said. The messages also threatened the lives of the professor’s children and family.

Campus protests and vigils were held following the threats. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was involved in the investigation.

“This crime was nothing short of an attack on the heart and soul of the SUNY Potsdam community and all that we value,” Esterberg said in an email. “Let us be clear: Hate has no place on our campus or in our community—not now, not ever.”

The campus is offering resources that are there to assist faculty, staff and students:

· The Bias Response Team is a resource for students, faculty or staff who have experienced a bias-related incident. For more information, visit: www.potsdam.edu/about/diversity/biasresponse.

· The Counseling Center is available for any students who need to talk. Staff counselors and trained advocates are on call. To make an appointment, stop by, call 267-2330, or visit www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/counseling.

· The Center for Diversity is a safe space for all. For more information, visit www.potsdam.edu/studentlife/diversity.

“These have been very difficult times for our campus, especially for our faculty member and the person's family, but also for our students, who felt deeply the anxiety that accompanies such an act,” Esterberg said. “The ugliness of racism and intolerance that we face here is also being challenged across the nation, and in many ways, our work is just beginning.”