Louisiana State University student Marques Smith was indicted Feb. 2 for attempted second degree murder after allegedly stabbing LSU's interim dean of students, John Baker, Jan. 24.
Prosecutor Aaron Brooks said Smith, a junior at LSU, also is charged with two counts of forgery and impersonating an FBI officer.
Smith is now in custody with bail set at $250,000.
After allegedly identifying himself as an FBI agent, Smith allegedly stabbed Baker outside the dean's home.
According to the LSU Police Department, the suspect wielded a large knife. Baker sustained wounds to the neck and ears in the ensuing struggle.
Police said that they suspect Smith stabbed Baker as a reaction to a letter informing Smith that the dean of students' office was investigating him on charges of altering grades.
He allegedly changed his grades in two classes and signed his professors' names to the grade change sheets.
According to the LSU Code of Student Conduct, the maximum sanction for premeditated academic misconduct is expulsion from the university for one semester. But Smith faces up to 50 years in jail if he is found guilty of the attempted murder charge, Brooks said.
Jim Crain, associate director of university relations, said Baker is recovering physically and has returned to work but still is mentally traumatized by the incident.
A 19-year-old Columbia University student, Kathleen Roskot, was found murdered in her dormitory room Saturday.
An hour later, her former boyfriend, the primary suspect in the New York Police Department homicide investigation, threw himself onto the subway tracks into the path of an oncoming train that hit and killed him.
Recently, safety at Columbia has come into the spotlight. Columbia, located on Manhattan's Upper West Side, claims to be one of the safest college campuses in the country.
But in a recent study conducted by APBnews.com, an online news source focusing on crime and safety, Columbia was ranked as the 43rd worst of 1,497 colleges nationwide. APBnews.com gave Columbia a security concern ranking of nine out of a possible 10.
In response to the study, Alan Stone, Columbia's vice president of public affairs, defended security at the prestigious Ivy League school.
"The theoretical crime risk projections by APB News are so at odds with reality... that we believe [APBNews'] methods have produced an inaccurate measure of the potential for violent crime at Columbia," Stone said in a statement regarding APBnews.com's study.
Virgil Rensulli, associate vice president for public affairs, also said the study was particularly "unfair to urban schools" because it considered factors such as high-density housing and ignored years of actual crime statistics.
Rensulli said Roskot's recent murder had nothing to do with campus safety because the suspect was an acquaintance whom the victim had checked through dormitory security.
Read More
Police forcefully clear encampment near University Chapel, detain protesters
By Thomas Baxter and Finn Trainer | 18 hours agoThe University declared the encampment an unlawful assembly at 2:44 p.m.
Student Council passes appointment bill, approves new CIOs at final meeting of semester
By Arshiya Pant | YesterdayMendoza Gonzalez also said she will be meeting with Kenyon R. Bonner, vice president and chief student affairs officer, to discuss further strategies for the Student Council Endowment Fund.
Professors speak about leading productive dialogue on Israel-Hamas war
By Lexie Stadler | 2 days agoThe event was hosted by the University’s Task Force on Religious Diversity and Belonging, which is designed to ensure that the University is welcoming to community members from all religions and cultures.
