New Jersey

Former Kean University Student Pleads Guilty to Threats Against Black Students

A former Kean University student has pleaded guilty to tweeting fake threats about fellow black students at the school. 

Kayla-Simone McKelvey, of Union Township, will likely serve up to 90 days in jail and pay $82,000 in restitution after she created an anonymous Twitter account to post threats against black students during a rally about racial issues.

Prosecutors say that McKelvey, who is black, attended the rally on Nov. 12, but left midway through to create the Twitter handle at a university library.

After creating the account, she posted several messages alluding to harming black students at the campus, including one where she directly addressed the college's police force.

"@kupolic I will kill all the blacks tonight, tomorrow and any other day if they go to Kean University," the tweet said.

After posting the messages, Kean went back to the rally and began sharing them with fellow ralliers.  

McKelvey's attorney, Thomas Ashley, said after a previous hearing where she pleaded not guilty that his client was "quite remorseful."

The November rally at Kean came in the wake of racial protests at the University of Missouri and other college campuses.

Security was increased at the New Jersey college after the threats were discovered, though classes weren't affected. But the threats did lead a group of black ministers to call for Kean President Dawood Farahi to resign the following day, saying that the threats showed that he hadn't done enough to address alleged racial tension on campus.

The school responded that the claims of racial tension were baseless.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us