Friends of Joshua Clarke, the man who was allegedly assaulted by Boston University senior Victoria Lee in a New York City nightclub early Sunday morning, expressed shock and disbelief that such a ‘professional’ and ‘active’ individual could fall victim to a physical attack.

Clarke, a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 2007 alumnus, is ‘a pretty cool cat,’ RPI 2007 alumna Charita Henry said. ‘I can’t see anything that he did that he would deserve that.’

RPI sophomore Jesenia Lucero said she and her friends were ‘shocked’ when they heard about the alleged assault on the former president of RPI’s Student Chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers.

‘Friends visited him yesterday,’ she said. ‘He’s back home and he’s doing fine. Just being normal Josh. He’s picking up where he left off, basically.’

The New York City Criminal Court formally charged Lee with first- and second-degree assault Sunday night for allegedly attacking Clarke at the Sutra Lounge, a Manhattan nightclub, earlier that morning. Police initially booked the College of Communication senior on an attempted murder charge.

According to the district attorney’s complaint, an unidentified informant witnessed Lee strike Clarke’s face and neck multiple times with a glass until it shattered. A police officer who arrived at the scene testified that Clarke had blood ‘pouring out’ of his neck and was ‘unable to speak’ before he was taken to the Bellevue Hospital Center to undergo surgery.

Lee was released on bail Sunday night, district attorney spokeswoman Tracy Golden said. Lee was unable to be reached by phone after numerous attempts Tuesday. Attorney Afsi Khot, who is representing Lee on behalf of the Legal Aid Society of New York, declined to comment on the alleged attack.

John Vinueza, an RPI junior, said he knew Clarke when he joined SHPE as a freshman and that Clarke ‘made a point to make me feel welcomed.’

Andrea Cabrea, former secretary for SHPE, said Clarke was an active and ‘really energetic’ member of RPI’s community through various on-campus organizations.

‘He was dedicated to what he did,’ she said. ‘We did a lot of work together we got along really well with working for the club [SHPE] and getting things done.’

When reached by phone early Wednesday morning, a woman who identified herself as Clarke’s mother declined to comment.

COM 2007 alumnus Ted Fioraliso, who worked with Lee on the butv10 production Inside Boston, said Lee was a ‘very talented and smart’ person.

‘It’s definitely shocking to hear these allegations,’ he said. ‘Who knows what went through her mind when that happened, but that’s definitely not the Vicky I know.’

Fioraliso, who was Inside Boston’s executive producer, said he always found Lee personable and goal-oriented.

‘She really tried hard at butv to make a name for herself and work hard and get stories done for our show,’ he said. ‘I would help her on stories. She would help me on stories.

‘I’m sad to hear about this incident,’ he added. ‘I hope it’s not true.’

Fioraliso said he did not agree with a student’s description of Lee as ‘feisty’ in a Free Press article Tuesday.

‘I don’t think I’d call her feisty at all,’ he said. ‘All of us in COM have A-type personalities, and I’d definitely say that she is one of them.’

COM 2007 alumnus Brittany Oat, who also worked with Lee on Inside Boston, said it was Lee’s goal to be an on-air anchor or reporter and that Lee worked hard to achieve that goal.

‘She came with a lot of energy and she came with that big smile that you see in a lot of pictures,’ she said. ‘She was very outgoing, very personable and always gave 100 percent. She was one of the people that we could always count on.’