COBLESKILL - SUNY Cobleskill students are mourning the loss of Alexander Batson, a freshmen in the rural university's Fisheries and Wildlife program, who tragically died Monday morning in a motor vehicle accident near his hometown of Poland, New York.

In an email sent to the student body on Monday afternoon, Vice-President of Student Affairs Steven M. Ackerknecht informed students of Mr. Batson's untimely passing. Counseling was made available to his classmates and friends who needed support that evening and into Tuesday. 

The freshmen student, according to Utica's News Channel 2 NBC-WKTV, was driving in a 2003 Pontiac when he "failed to negotiate a curve and lost control of the car." Mr. Batson attempted to regain control of the vehicle, but "exited the roadway again and struck a second tree with the front driver-side fender and door."