CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A college student pleaded not guilty Friday to stabbing one of his professors at her home and was ordered held without bail.
Nikhil Dhar, 22, was arraigned on charges of armed assault with intent to murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.
Mary Elizabeth Hooker, 54, was taken to a hospital Thursday night with a stab wound to her neck, according to police. She is an associate professor of clinical lab sciences at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell.
Police spokesman Frank Pasquarello said Hooker taught Dhar in one of her classes, but declined to comment on a possible motive.
"This was not a random act," he said.
Robert Nicolosi, a professor at the school, described Hooker as a dedicated teacher who went as far as lending her students money for lunch.
"She went the extra nine yards when it came to her students," he said. "It's just amazing to me that something like this could happen to someone like her."
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