Tough Times At School

Updates on two high profile student scandal stories from two of the city's biggest landowners, Columbia and NYU. A Columbia cornerback, Aaron Percival, who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a fellow student, pleaded to a lesser charge and was sentenced to 10 years probation, plus registration as a level one sex offender. The incident occured in a Columbia dorm in 2003, and the woman "awoke to find defendant licking her feet and toes without her consent." He later sexually abused her; the victim had not reported the crime immediately because Percival was a BMOC. (She is no longer a student at Columbia, and she agreed with the judge's decision to accept the plea.) Percival, a British citizen, will probably be deported. [Related: Gothamist on how the dorm room was unlocked because a roommate "had lost a key."]

And the "Pot Princess," Julia Diaco, the privileged freshman who was busted last year for selling pot and other drugs from her NYU dorm, left the Idaho treatment program she was attending in lieu of serving time. While the District Attorney's office says she failed the program, the judge thought there was issues with the program. Diaco will probably still avoid jailtime if the D.A.'s office agrees with other programs her lawyer suggests. Gothamist on Julia Diaco's exploits, and here's an interesting factoid: Dan Rather, son of THE Dan Rather, is one of the assistant DA's on the case.