Frederick Sontag

Jared Essig, accused of stabbing a Pomona College professor, was committed to a state mental institution Thursday after the court accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, court officials said. Essig, 22, was charged with attempted murder in the Oct. 30 attack on Frederick Sontag, 76, a philosophy professor. Sontag, who was stabbed in the neck, recovered.

Frederick E. Sontag, a professor of philosophy and venerated mentor to three generations of students at Pomona College, where he made headlines nine years ago for forgiving a mentally ill student who had stabbed him in the neck, died Sunday at Pilgrim Place Health Services Center in Claremont. He was 84. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son, Grant.

"My genes lack something," Frederick Sontag said Wednesday, bemused at all of the fuss over him in the hospital. "I don't seem to hold grudges." That was why Sontag is more than willing to mend his relationship with the troubled Pomona College student who allegedly stabbed him in the neck on Monday. It was why he'd bailed that student out of jail on a previous occasion. It was why he'd found an attorney to defend the young man.

Jared Essig, accused of stabbing a Pomona College professor, was committed to a state mental institution Thursday after the court accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, court officials said. Essig, 22, was charged with attempted murder in the Oct. 30 attack on Frederick Sontag, 76, a philosophy professor. Sontag, who was stabbed in the neck, recovered.

It took just a few slashes with a small knife to strip Pomona College of some of its innocence. Homecoming this weekend wasn't like others at the college in Claremont, a hamlet of trees and PhDs. Discussions at the homecoming football game focused on the Oct. 30 stabbing that shocked the campus. Why did Jared Essig, by all accounts a troubled student, allegedly stab his mentor, beloved philosophy professor Frederick Sontag?

Frederick E. Sontag, a professor of philosophy and venerated mentor to three generations of students at Pomona College, where he made headlines nine years ago for forgiving a mentally ill student who had stabbed him in the neck, died Sunday at Pilgrim Place Health Services Center in Claremont. He was 84. The cause was congestive heart failure, said his son, Grant.

Jared Essig, accused of stabbing a Pomona College professor, was committed to a state mental institution Thursday after the court accepted his plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, court officials said. Essig, 22, was charged with attempted murder in the Oct. 30 attack on Frederick Sontag, 76, a philosophy professor. Sontag, who was stabbed in the neck, recovered.

A Pomona College senior accused of stabbing his philosophy professor pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge of attempted murder. Prosecutors say Jared Essig, 22, stabbed Frederick Sontag on Oct. 30 while the two were in Sontag's car. Essig is also charged with burglary and theft. Essig's lawyer, Stuart Holmes of Claremont, waived the formal reading of charges and entered the defendant's plea of not guilty to all three counts during an arraignment in Pomona Superior Court.

A Pomona College student charged with attempted murder for allegedly stabbing a popular philosophy professor appeared in court Monday--but was allowed to delay entering a plea until Wednesday. Jared Essig, 22, is accused of stabbing professor Frederick Sontag Oct. 30 with a pocketknife as the professor drove the senior to his dormitory at the oldest of the seven Claremont colleges.

A Pomona College philosophy professor was in serious but stable condition Tuesday after he was stabbed, police say, by a student possibly under the influence of drugs. Frederick Sontag, 76, was attacked late Monday with a small knife, suffering wounds in the neck and chest. Senior Jared Essig, 22, was taken into custody first by campus security and later by Claremont police. He faces a charge of attempted murder.

It took just a few slashes with a small knife to strip Pomona College of some of its innocence. Homecoming this weekend wasn't like others at the college in Claremont, a hamlet of trees and PhDs. Discussions at the homecoming football game focused on the Oct. 30 stabbing that shocked the campus. Why did Jared Essig, by all accounts a troubled student, allegedly stab his mentor, beloved philosophy professor Frederick Sontag?

"My genes lack something," Frederick Sontag said Wednesday, bemused at all of the fuss over him in the hospital. "I don't seem to hold grudges." That was why Sontag is more than willing to mend his relationship with the troubled Pomona College student who allegedly stabbed him in the neck on Monday. It was why he'd bailed that student out of jail on a previous occasion. It was why he'd found an attorney to defend the young man.