Cornell Blog: An unofficial blog about Cornell University

According to this story in the Ithaca Journal, Cornell student Alexander H. Atkind is going to be on trial for torturing a dog placed in his care. Allegedly, after the animal chewed on some speaker wire of his, he beat it severely and doused it in bleach:

The officer found the apartment and kennel area in disarray, with dog food, bleach and detergent spilled. The dog had a laceration 1 inch by 2 inches wide, and some of its skull was showing through, according to the officer’s report.It would likely have diminished eyesight the rest of its life, and it had blood in its stool, probably from ingesting some bleach by licking itself.

The crime, “overdriving, torturing and injuring animals” is a misdemeanor. The officer noted that Atkind acted:

“cocky and arrogant” and “made numerous comments that this incident meant nothing to him, that he would do it again, and that he knows how the criminal justice system works, and guaranteed me the prosecution of this case would result in an ACD in City Court.”

In trying to figure out what kind of guy would do this I pulled up his Facebook profile, which entirely boring:

This is his old profile pic. What on earth is it?

The directory entry for Atkind notes a variety of phone numbers:

NETID: aha23
EMAIL: aha23@cornell.edu
CAMPUS: (607)257-0729 and (617)538-1265
LOCAL: (607)257-0729
MOBILE: (617)538-1265
CAMPUS: 343B Mews Hall
LOCAL: 111 VALENTINE PL., ITHACA, NY, 14850

As an aside, it’s interesting that this Alex Atkind is supposed to be class of 2006, like me, but is apparently a year younger (1983 he was born) and still at Cornell another year later. I wonder what happened to “delay” his graduation. If anyone knows him, or can explain this brutal behavior leave a comment. I’m not impressed with this character.

Update:

Some interesting forum posts over at the Ithaca Journal and Star Gazette:

• As a former dorm-neighbor of Mr. Atkind, this isn’t surprising at all. His nature is completely frightening, and his past behavior mirrors his current situation. He’s never shown any remorse when damaging personal property of others or being downright cruel. Furthermore, he has a SERIOUS anger problem, which rears its head often. When I read that the officer noted him as arrogant, I knew exactly what was going on. Alex thinks himself to be above everyone else, and that he can manipulate the system and other people to achieve his means. I hope he gets the maximum possible punishment for this awful, awful crime.
• is that guy the son of Robert & Nancy Atkind 5 Dover lane Lexington Mass. 02421 with a phone number of 781-863-8008? gee i thought so. i bet he is no longer at 710 Stewart ave.
• Wonder if this is the same Atkind who is a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Medical School and has a private practice in Addiction Medicine? Could this young welp be his son?
• I am sickened that an innocent, good-hearted animal was tortured by a human. I hope to God this horrible person gets jail time. Poor Princess. What a horrible thing to loose part of your sight and have such a trauma. We should all write Cornell’s President and call for the expulsion of this jerk.

Update #3:

It gets better. Our favorite alleged Cornell torturer has been arrested for possessing “magic mushrooms”. Not the Chronic, not E, not some fancy designer drug his Dr. parents could have written him, but shrooms. SHROOMS. I didn’t know people still took them; didn’t that die out in the 70s?

Update #4:

Thanks to our reader, here is his mugshot. No one looks pretty for a mugshot:

Update #5:

The President of the Cornell Alumni Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi writes in to let us know that Alex Atkind, although associated with the Fraternity, was never a brother. This is a distinction which seems a bit like splitting hairs. He writes:

You list the telephone numbers associated with Alex’s Cornell directory and state “one of those phone numbers is also the listed number for the Cornell Pi Kappa Phi Chapter.” You draw enormous and factually incorrect implications from that. Readers of your entry automatically assume that because he had the number listed, Alex has an active tie to Pi Kappa Phi and is associated with the fraternity. Neither could be more wrong. Phone numbers on the Cornell directory are not vetted for accuracy. Furthermore, entries are not updated continuously and therefore, information remains on the directory that is not necessarily accurate. While it is technically true that Alex did have that number listed, he has not had any formal association with Pi Kappa Phi since the Spring of 2004.

Maybe it wasn’t clear, but my intention was to indicate that Alex considered himself a member or associate of the Pi Kappa Phi. Obviously his home number is not the frat number since according to directory information he lives either in Mews or C-Town. Whether he actually is a member of any fraternity is immaterial, since he clearly wants to be part of what he considers Greek life. The President goes on to list a few facts:

1.) Alex did rush Pi Kappa Phi and received a bid in the Spring of 2003.
2.) While Alex lived in our residence as an associate member for one semester, he disassociated in Spring 2004 and all ties were severed but between him, the house, chapter, and national organization
3.) Alex was never initiated into the brotherhood, and was never a brother of Pi Kappa Phi.
4.) Pi Kappa Phi has not had any formal ties or communication with Alex since he deactivated in the Spring of 2004.

So, instead of “Atkind is associated with PKP” we are now informed that “Atkind was a member of PKP for the year 2003-2004 but left.” I’m not sure this offers significantly more clarity, but it’s nice to lay out facts rather than guesswork or inference. As “people have been calling the number that Alex had in the directory leaving harassing messages,” I strongly advise you, whomever you might be to discontinue. Harassing a fraternity, his teachers, classmates, friends, parents, relatives, lawyer, or employer is morally ambiguous and probably illegal. The lady Justice will decide what punishment awaits him.

Update #6:

Alex Atkind and I have agreed to strike an earlier speculative update from this record, in exchange for a legal cease-fire. This agrees with me, since the information could not be verified, and if it could would likely not provide interesting basis.

Update #7:

Interestingly, Alex has pled guilty to a class E felony charge, and will be spending additional time in Jail on top of the time he got for his hallucinogenic mushrooms. When he called me (see Update 6) and asked me to remove a section associating him with several sketchy website profiles, he assured me that the whole truth wasn’t out there. I was skeptical, and now it seems I was right.

The Freakonomics blog, quoting NBER, writes about recent research into sex offenders and property values:

They combine data from the housing market with data from the North Carolina Sex Offender Registry to find that when a sex offender moves into a neighborhood, houses within a one-tenth mile area around the sex offender’s home fall by 4 percent on average (about $5,500), while those further away show no decline in value. “These results suggest that individuals have a significant distaste for living in close proximity to a known sex offender,” the authors conclude.

As I recently posted about a registered sex offender working at Cornell University, it seems pertinent to ask the question, “Does the number of sex offenders on campus have a negative effect on its desireability?”

According to the Ithaca Journal, the Primary Building Coordinator for Alice Cook House, David A. Schlaegel, has been arrested for the rape of another Cornell employee. The rape, which allegedly took place in February, was only recently discovered. Schlaegel, 38 years old, lives at 40 Mallard Drive in Ithaca, NY. A cursory search of University and online records only reveals his email address, das235@cornell.edu, office phone number, 607-255-9584, and his appointment at Cornell.

Vice President for University Communications Thomas W. Bruce made the following statement to the Cornell Chronicle:

These are serious and painful charges, and we must value the privacy of the individuals involved. Cornell University is providing support to the victim, also a Cornell employee, and to others who have been affected by the alleged incident. Cornell has full confidence in the investigation being led by the Tompkins County District Attorney’s Office. We are providing our full cooperation.

You can read the release at the Cornell News website.