 David Collings, a professor in the English department at Bowdoin College, was an academic advisor to Gershkovich while he was a student at Bowdoin beginning in 2010. The two have kept in contact since his graduation, so when Gershkovich was arrested in 2023, Collings was shocked. He remembers the larger-than-life figure he knew on campus. And I would say he's a very distinctive person. Everybody at Bowdoin who knew him would also speak to this.