Racist messages were written on the door of a black female Southern Illinois University Edwardsville student, prompting protests at the school and calls for the accused – two white students – to be expelled.
On Monday, however, The College Fix reported that a black female student, Kaliyeha Clark-Mabins, has been “charged with three counts of disorderly conduct for filing a false police report.” The outlet started asking questions about the alleged hate crime last week, since campus hate crimes almost always turn out to be hoaxes.
The notes left on the student’s door said “DIE B****” and “BLACK PEOPLE DON’T BELONG,” according to charging documents obtained by the Fix.
“SIUE Police received [on January 23] a report of a hate crime involving the posting of hand-written notes on the door of a room in Woodland Residence Hall, along with an alleged anonymous text message thread from fall 2021 containing threatening and racially hostile content,” campus Director of Media Relations Megan Wieser told the outlet in an email.
The investigation went far beyond campus police, with the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Secret Service getting involved, though it is unclear what role the Secret Service played.
Before Clark-Mabins was charged, two white students, who will not be named by The Daily Wire because they are innocent, were falsely accused of writing the messages. A Change.org petition was started, calling for the students’ expulsion.
“Black activists rallied for the expulsion of the alleged perpetrators when they thought white teens were to blame,” the Fix reported.
David Daniel, vice president of the Black Student Union, told KDSK 5 at the time that “They say it’s under investigation but I feel like she shouldn’t be on campus period. Because you threatened to lynch students on this campus.” The outlet noted that Daniel organized the protest calling for “accountability.”
“The Fix reached out to the Black Student Union through its club email and to Professor Howard Ramsby, its advisor on February 3, prior to the filing of criminal charges. The Fix asked for photos of the notes, if BSU could put The College Fix in touch with the alleged victim and what it thought should happen to the perpetrator,” the outlet reported. “Ramsby and BSU did not respond to a follow-up request for comment on February 4 after the announcement of the criminal charges.”
Clark-Mabins told police that she was the victim of a hate crime, but as the charging documents state, she “knew that at the time of this transmission there was no reasonable ground for believing that such an offense had been committed.” This most likely means that Clark-Mabins wrote the notes herself and then claimed to be a victim, a common occurrence on college campuses, as The Daily Wire has documented.
A similar incident occurred in June 2021 at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wisconsin, when a female student, Victoria Unanka, reportedly texted a friend on the night of April 18 to say that a small fire that began in her residence hall must have been targeted at her because it began next to her room. Unanka had previously claimed to be the victim of a hate crime as well. Unanka was later arrested for setting the fire herself.