THE HILL NEWS e s t a b l i s h e d i n 1 9 1 1 at s t . l aw r e n c e u n i v e r s i t y
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2015
State Troopers and Potsdam Village Police respond to the scene.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WATERTOWN DAILY TIMES
Domestic Dispute Fatal for Two Clarkson Students By ELLE LUCAS MANAGING EDITOR Two Clarkson University students are dead after police responded to an isolated domestic incident last Thursday and shot a man reportedly stabbing a woman and himself.
The graduate students were found in the off-campus Swan Landing Apartment complex in downtown Potsdam around 2:45pm after neighbors reported an assault in progress. Officers Matthew A. Seymour and Clinton Perrigo arrived at the scene where
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31-year-old Ma Tian refused orders to drop the knife he was using to fatally injure 25-yearold Jiang Yazhen. Failing to obey, Officer Seymour fired four shots, killing Ma on scene. According to a statement made to the Watertown Daily Times, Village Police Chief
Kevin M. Bates said that Officer Seymour performed first aid on Ms. Jiang, as she was still alive at the time. She was then taken to Canton-Potsdam Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Mr. Bates said it has not been determined how many times Ma stabbed Ms. Jiang. Chemical Engineering undergraduate Paul Doerner ’17 said that the campus was “definitely shook up” after the jarring incident. “Several of my friends had them as TAs [Teaching Assistants] and were shocked when they heard the news,” Doerner said, adding that the campus has come together for memorial services for both Ma and Ms. Jiang. No motive has been declared. Results from autopsies performed last Friday have not been released of Ma and Ms. Jiang, both Mainland China natives. In wake of the shooting fatality, Officer Seymour has been placed on paid administrative leave until the investigation is complete. The 11-year veteran of the village police is a member of the state’s Police Juvenile Officers Association and has also served time in Iraq. In a statement released by St. Lawrence County District Attorney Mary E. Rain, “The
District Attorney’s Office will present the findings of the New York State Police and the medical examiner’s office investigation for an independent review of the shooting to provide transparency to the public that the officer’s actions were justifiable.” Potsdam Mayor Steven W. Yurgartis additionally stated that “the village is going through proper procedures to investigate the shooting to make sure the shooting was done properly and we are going to await that report before taking any action.” The WTD reports that Officer Seymour has received an outpouring of support from his family and the community. Clarkson made a mention of the deaths of the two students during a commemorative 9/11 speech on Friday. The university has made grief counseling services available to students and staff and will be cooperating with the investigators throughout the proceedings. SLU has set the age-old rivalry aside to offer condolences to the mourning Clarkson community. For more information and updates, check the Watertown Daily Times and Potsdam Police Blotter.
Class of 2019: Second Largest Class in SLU History By MACKENZIE SHERWOOD and ELLE LUCAS STAFF WRITER and MANAGING EDITOR
This fall, St. Lawrence University warmly welcomed 680 first-year students. Hailing from 32 different states, with 62 percent from outside New York State, and 33 separate countries, the Class of 2019 enters SLU with a strong average GPA and even stronger extra-curricular and volunteer involvement. This is the second largest class in SLU history, coming in close behind the Class of 1978 who had an entering class of 692 students.
Contents: Opinions pg. 2 News pg. 4 Features pg. 6 A&E pg. 8 Sports pg. 11
The applicant pool for the Class of 2019 was the largest recorded yet. With 5,888 applicants total, the Admissions Office was faced with the daunting task of filtering through some of the strongest and most enthusiastic applications to date. Though sifting through thousands of applications is quite the task, the Admissions staff was thrilled to see the spike in applicants. “The quality of students applying was very strong,” Director of Admissions Jeremy Freeman ’96 says. “We’re excited to see students of such high quality want to be with us.” With St. Lawrence Univer-
sity’s relatively small student body, an incoming class this large does, of course, present challenges. Extra planning went into welcoming the Class of 2019. Meeting throughout the spring semester and well into the summer, Admissions representatives, administrators and department-heads planned, prepared and made adjustments in order to ensure that the entire St. Lawrence community was prepared for a large incoming class. In order to accommodate the recent addition, the FirstYear Program added four new courses, bringing the grand total to 28 First Year Program courses. With St. Lawrence’s
great pride in the success of the “Living and Learning Communities,” the increase in FirstYear Programs did make the
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PHOTO COURTESY OF EMILY PARENT/UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS
Candles light the faces of the class of 2019.
I S S U E S N EA K P EA K Meet Homo naledi: our long-lost cousin from the past (Pg. 5)
housing arrangement process a little more difficult.
Get the inside scoop Looking to redo your wardrobe? Check out on the artists of this year’s Fall Fest (Pg. 9) this fall’s Dos and Don’ts (Pg. 8)
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