EXCLUSIVE – A pro-life student display at Miami University in Ohio became the target of an alarming online threat, prompting a police investigation and the felony arrest of an alleged poster, according to Students for Life of America.
The incident unfolded due to an Oct. 28 Yik Yak post as the group hosted a campus display, with screenshots appearing to show a user on the anonymous social media platform asking, “How many dining dollars to Kirk the anti abortion table in Armstrong,” an apparent reference to the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“We were in the Armstrong Student Center inside,” Grace Kimzey, Ohio Regional Coordinator for Students for Life of America, told Fox News Digital in an interview Friday.
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“We had our display, we were towards the end of our tabling in our tour when a student saw a post online at Yik Yak,” Kimzey said. “He was just keeping tabs on what’s being talked about on social media, about our table and about our display. So we saw that, and then I immediately called the Miami Police Department just to keep our students safe.”
A press release from Students for Life of America, shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, said that a 19-year-old Miami University student was arrested on Nov. 2, on a felony charge and multiple misdemeanor charges after allegedly posting the message on Yik Yak appearing to encourage violence against Students for Life of America members staffing the campus pro-life display.
According to Students for Life, the post was made in Yik Yak’s “Miami Ohio” group, which is visible to the app’s users near the university.
The group said that the student was arrested and charged with one felony of making a terroristic threat and various misdemeanors, including inducing panic, aggravated menacing, and telecommunications harassment. The incident was also referred to the FBI.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, told Fox News Digital in a statement that the climate for free speech has significantly deteriorated in recent years.
“I’ve been on campuses for the past three weeks alongside Turning Point USA on my fall tour, and I’m there, you know, under a TPUSA tent. Cameras are on me. There are signs saying we are filming in this area, yet there will be students who will stand beside me and call me Mrs. Kirk, and they’ll use the verb ‘Kirked’ over and over again,” Hawkins said.
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“I’ve asked students just to their faces when they will say something about Charlie,” Hawkins continued. “They’ll laugh, I’ll say, ‘Do you think it was funny what happened to my friend, that he was assassinated, a husband and a father who was a good man by all accounts? You think this was funny?’ And they’ll just continue to laugh.”
She also recounted another recent incident with a student that gave her pause.
“I asked one student recently, ‘Do you think it’s moral to shoot me? If you disagree with me and what I do, do you think it’s moral to shoot me?’ And the young man looked right at me and said, ‘Yes,’” Hawkins said. “I mean, this is a different level. And I think the older generations, even my generation, the elder millennials, if you will, when we were having dialogue on campuses, it didn’t reach this level.”
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A spokesperson from Miami University told Fox News Digital in a statement that, “Due to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), the university cannot confirm if a student is being disciplined or is currently in the disciplinary process.”
“Every Miami student is afforded their due process rights through our Code of Student Conduct,” the spokesperson continued. “The university handles any reports of possible policy violations by students or violations of law through the Office of Community Standards and through campus and local law enforcement, with potential sanctions that vary based on the alleged violation and a student’s previous conduct history.”
The spokesperson referred to the university’s website for more information about freedom of speech and expression at Miami University.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Miami University Police Department and the Butler County Jail for comment.