ITHACA, N.Y. — A prosecutor dropped a hate crime charge on Tuesday against a white Cornell University sophomore who was arrested after a fight that involved an anti-black slur, ending a case that led to protests and soul-searching on the Ivy League campus.
The student, John P.A. Greenwood, instead pleaded guilty to a noncriminal violation and will complete 75 hours of community service.
Mr. Greenwood, 20, of Toronto, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct, a violation, and admitted using the slur in the September altercation that left a black student with a bloody nose. But Mr. Greenwood denied taking part in the assault.
Citing a “level of doubt” in the case and the victim’s desire to put the episode behind him, Matthew Van Houten, the Tompkins County district attorney, said on Tuesday that he had decided to drop three misdemeanor charges against Mr. Greenwood, including the charge of attempted assault as a hate crime.
“The victim is a young man who simply wants to focus on his education at Cornell and to avoid the continued stress of this litigation,” Mr. Van Houten said in a statement. The prosecutor said he accepted the plea deal with the approval of the victim, identified by police as Solomon Shewit, and his parents. Mr. Van Houten also said that alcohol “was a significant factor” in the dispute.
Mr. Greenwood apologized in the fall for using “unacceptable” language after the campus newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, obtained a video from the morning of the assault in which Mr. Greenwood used a slur several times in a separate argument shortly after the physical altercation at the center of the case.
Led by Black Students United, a campus group, hundreds of students protested in the days after the arrest, and Cornell took on a series of initiatives to improve the climate. The president, Martha E. Pollack, created a task force charged with “examining and addressing persistent problems of bigotry and intolerance at Cornell.” And the alumni board of Mr. Greenwood’s fraternity, Psi Upsilon, closed the school’s chapter indefinitely.
Mr. Greenwood’s lawyer, Ronald P. Fischetti, maintained that Mr. Greenwood, who is known as Jack, “never should have been charged.”
“There’s only one victim in this case, and it’s Jack,” Mr. Fischetti said on Tuesday.
Joel M. Malina, vice president for university relations at Cornell, said the district attorney “acted in a manner that he feels best serves” the local justice system.
“Cornell’s administrative conduct processes relating to this matter will now move forward, and the university will continue the critical work of enhancing our campus climate, building a campus community grounded in mutual respect and kindness,” Mr. Malina said. Mr. Greenwood has been charged with violating Cornell’s code of conduct and could be suspended or expelled.
In addition to community service, Judge Richard M. Wallace of the City Court in Ithaca ordered Mr. Greenwood to pay for a student’s damaged iPhone and ordered him to stay away from Mr. Shewit.
Mr. Shewit, a junior, said in September that “every time I watch TV and I hear a story like this, I know it could easily be me because I look the same as those people. I expected it to happen at some point.”
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