An incident late last month at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, has garnered attention on social media as a student faces a felony charge for allegedly threatening pro-life students with a reference to the assassination of Charlie Kirk in September of last year.
Screenshots of the Miami Ohio page at the Yik Yak social media site, along with reporting from WLWT, show a comment targeting the Students for Life of America table at the university. “How many dining dollars to kirk the anti abortion table in Armstrong,” the Oct. 28 post read.
Alixandra R. Patterson was arrested on Nov. 2.
Patterson is facing charges of aggravated menacing, inducing panic, and making a terroristic threat. Court records mention telecommunications harassment as well. Members of the College Republicans reported the threat to the FBI.
She is being held on a $170,000 bond at the Butler County Jail and is listed as being in custody, according to court records. Should Patterson post bail, she’ll have to wear an ankle monitor, stay off social media, and stay away from the students who were threatened.
The alleged threats in question took place as the Students For Life America team and student members were engaged in what the organization describes as an “educational outreach display” known as “Meet Abortion’s Victims.”
Pictures of the display, including ones with SFLA Ohio regional coordinator Grace Kimzey, show a table with a sign reading “Every Abortion Has a Human Victim.”
The table has fetal models and information cards, among other items. Displays next to the table detail circumstances in which a woman might have an abortion, including diagnosis of Down syndrome, rape, or a woman who is the victim of human trafficking.
SFLA President Kristan Hawkins, who has been visiting campuses alongside Turning Point USA, told Fox News, “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.”
She recounted alarming instances of students on campus mocking Kirk’s assassination and downplaying safety concerns, even claiming that Hawkins deserved violence.
Hawkins and SFLA’s press release emphasized the importance of free speech for students sharing the pro-life message.
In a statement to the Daily Signal, a spokesperson for the university indicated 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 added that 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.”
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[ H/T The Daily Signal ]
