Cho said it is “pretty surprising to hear that [Kim] went to such great lengths to avoid a final that he probably would have done well on anyway.” Cho, who said he is “pretty good friends” with Kim, called Kim “naturally bright” and said he thought that he did “pretty well” in his classes last year. He added that Kim “has been a supportive influence for a lot of people, myself included,” and is a “pretty nice guy.” Cho noted that he has not spoken with Kim in two or three weeks.

A College student and friend of Kim’s who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, called Kim a “great kid” in a phone interview Tuesday night. “I wouldn’t have expected [this],” the student said. The student suggested that Kim “probably studied a lot” for his exam on Monday, but may have gone into “panic mode” and “did something really stupid because he didn’t know what to do.”

“He did have a stressful semester,” the student said, declining to go into further detail about past conversations with Kim.

—Matthew Q. Clarida, Daniel R. Levine, and Kamara A. Swaby contributed to the reporting of this story.

—Staff writer Madeline R. Conway can be reached at mconway@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @MadelineRConway.

—Staff writer Brianna D. MacGregor can be reached at brianna.macgregor@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @bdmacgregor.