With all of the antisemitic demonstrations and violence taking place at colleges and universities around the United States over the past month, it would probably be tough to nominate one school for some sort of “worst in class” award. But as the days go by, Cornell University in upstate New York is definitely making its mark to be in the running. We already knew that the school’s Center for Jewish Living had been the subject of multiple death threats and online media attacks. Now authorities have arrested a suspect in the case and the details of what Patrick Dai, a junior at the school allegedly did make it all the more chilling. Dai reportedly went far further than calling for a ceasefire or ending the “occupation” of Gaza. He was allegedly making overt, terrifying threats against Jewish students at his own school and the police claim that he’s already admitted to doing so. His family, however, is blaming the entire situation on “mental illness.” (NY Post)

The Cornell University student accused of making violent threats against his Jewish peers is a 21-year-old engineering student who suffers from such “severe depression” that his mother worried he was on the brink of suicide just moments before his arrest.

Patrick Dai, a junior at the prestigious university, was arrested by federal authorities Tuesday for allegedly making a string of disturbing online posts over the weekend threatening to kill and rape Jewish students and to “bring an assault rifle to campus.”

Investigators traced the deranged posts to Dai’s IP address at his off-campus apartment, where he allegedly admitted to being the culprit, according to a federal complaint obtained by NBC News.

The threats allegedly (just assume the word “allegedly” for the rest of this article, please) involved the violent, brutal murder of Jewish students, as well as raping female Jewish students. Dai also said he would bring “an assault rifle” to the campus, suggesting the possibility of another mass shooting. No mention was made of any personal beef he may have had with individual students or even groups. He just wanted to kill some Jews.

As noted above, Dai’s mother claims that her son was suffering from severe depression and she was worried that he might be “on the brink of suicide” prior to his arrest. His father makes the same claims, but there seems to be a disconnect between the background they provide and the conclusions they draw. Both say that he “cannot control his emotions well” and has behaved erratically in the past. But at the same time, they don’t believe he actually made the threats that he as already confessed to. So he perfectly fits the profile of someone who might do something like this, but he falsely confessed to doing it?

Assuming his family’s account of his recent history is truthful, it clearly sounds as if Dai was dealing with some issues. After a highly successful run in high school, he was accepted to Cornell as a National Merit Scholar. And he initially received excellent grades and good reviews. But in 2021 and 2022 they say he “lost his life goal and motivation.” He wound up taking two semesters off at the suggestion of a doctor. That should be easy enough to verify, and if so he probably did have some emotional issues.

But even if that’s the case, we simply can’t turn a blind eye to someone making these types of threats, particularly at a time like this. There has not been any confirmation yet that Dai even owns a firearm, but he shouldn’t have been given a permit if he was in that much mental distress. And too many other threats against Jews have already proven to be all too real to take chances.

I’m hesitant to offer the benefit of the doubt at this point, but let’s assume for the moment that Patrick Dai is as mentally disturbed as his parents claim. If that’s the case, he could easily have made the threats that were traced to his IP address. (A detail his parents don’t seem to have addressed yet.) And even if he didn’t intend to actually carry out those plans, he is clearly too unstable to be wandering around the campus.