Adjunct professor leaps to his death at Chestnut Hill College

An adjunct mathematics professor died Wednesday after he reportedly dived off the second tier of a rotunda to the ground floor of a building at Chestnut Hill College in front of students and staff, a college source said Thursday.

A statement on the college's website identified the professor as Rudolf Alexandrov and described his death as the result of a fall, but did not elaborate. Philadelphia police confirmed that there had been a suicide at the college, but declined to release any further information.

Public records listed Alexandrov's age as 71.

The statement said the college's president, Carol Jean Vale, and the college community "wish to express our deepest sympathy to the family of adjunct professor Rudolf Alexandrov." Vale did not respond to an interview request Thursday.

The college source, who asked not to be identified, said Alexandrov was a part-time professor in the accelerated education program.

He was scheduled to begin class at 5:30 p.m. Between 5:20 and 5:30, he went to the wooden railing overlooking the inside rotunda of the St. Joseph's Building.

As students and college staff watched, the source said, Alexandrov launched himself headfirst into the open space and landed on the floor below. The source said numerous witnesses described the jump.

"It was the most horrifying thing ever," the source said. "I heard bloodcurdling screams."

Philadelphia police and college security guards cordoned off the campus, the source said.