VESTAL -- A longtime Binghamton University anthropology professor was stabbed to death inside a BU science building this afternoon. Campus police have a male suspect in custody, but had not charged him as of 5 p.m.

Professor Emeritus Richard T. Antoun, 77, of Vestal died Friday afternoon after being taken to Wilson Hospital in Johnson City, where he was rushed after being attacked inside BU’s Science 1 building.

Professors who were in the building at the time said Antoun was stabbed by a graduate student. Police took the student into custody in the building shortly after the attack. They had not released his name Friday afternoon.

University officials said there is no danger to students or others on the Vestal campus as a result of the incident, but urged the campus community Friday afternoon to stay clear of the Science I building, which was to remain closed until noon Saturday. Students were notified about the stabbing by text message from the university.

It was unclear Friday evening when the suspect might be arraigned. Vestal Supervisor Peter Andreasen said an arraignment would not necessarily have to take place in Vestal, because two state agencies – the State Police and University Police – are involved.

Antoun was stabbed four times with a 6-inch kitchen blade inside a campus office, according to police radio transmissions.

Devin Sheppard, a BU student, said she heard from students who were in the Science Building that campus police had tackled the assailant.

“The police asked the grad student, ‘did you just stab him,” and he said yes,” Sheppard said.

Antoun was rushed from the building on a wheeled stretcher and loaded into a Harpur’s Ferry ambulance that was parked on a walkway outside the building.

BU President Lois DeFleur condemned the slaying as “an act of senseless violence.”

She said counselors would be on duty at the University Counseling Center until 8 p.m., or by calling (607) 777-2772. Counselors will also be available throughout the weekend by calling 777-2393.

A number of students around the Science building Friday afternoon said they weren't certain what had happened, nor did they know why the hallway near Antoun's office had been closed off with yellow police tape. Several said they have not registered with the university to receive text messages notifying them of emergencies.

Some classes continued to take place during the afternoon inside the building, which is on the eastern edge of theBU quadrangle not far from the Bartle library. There are no classrooms in the section of the building where the stabbing occurred.

“It's kind of scary because it’s so close,” said Jacqui Boroda, 21, a BU senior. She works at Jazzmans, a coffee house in BU’s Academic Building B, which is next to Science I. She said her boss saw the police heading into the building with guns drawn.

Professors and students said the mood in the building was one of shock and fear.

“It’s scary as hell,” said Peter Knuepfer, an associate professor of geological sciences who works in Science I. “It’s another one of those things like the downtown shooting (at the American Civic Association, where 13 people were fatally shot in April).

“You think it happens somewhere else, but it happens here too.”

Antoun, who had lived on Vestal’s Murray Hill Road for a number of years, is a published author who has written several books. He published the book Understanding Fundamentalism: Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Movements

A BU biography of Antoun shows that he received a doctorate from Harvard University in Massachusetts in 1963. The bio describes Antoun as an emeritus professor who is a, “sociocultural anthropologist who has conducted research among peasants in Jordan, urbanites in Lebanon, peasant-farmers in Iran, and migrants in Texas and Greece.

His scholarly interests center on comparative religion and symbolic systems, the social organization of tradition in Islamic law and ethics, the sociology of dispute with respect to tribal law in the Middle East, local-level politics, and the impact of transnational migration on education, work, and cultural change.”

Sheppard and professors said Antoun was “a really nice guy.”

Staff writers George Basler, Matt Coleman, Jennifer Micale and Debbie Swartz contributed to this story.