Graduate Kayla-Simone McKelvey Held For Racist Campus Threats Hoax

The author of recent online threats of violence against black students at a New Jersey college is an African-American graduate from the campus, say authorities.

Kayla-Simone McKelvey has been charged by summons with third-degree creating a false public alarm two weeks ago at Kean University.

The 24-year-old, a former homecoming queen at the college, took part in a rally on 17 November with about 100 students to protest against racism on US college campuses.

Union County prosecutors said McKelvey left halfway through the demonstration and went to a university library where she used a computer to set up an anonymous Twitter profile.

She allegedly began posting racially inflammatory tweets from the account - @keanuagainstblk - such as: "kean university twitter against blacks is for everyone who hates blacks people".

McKelvey also tweeted that there was a bomb on the campus, and posted comments about shooting black students, say the authorities.

She then went back to the rally to alert fellow protesters to the online threats.

McKelvey also posted screenshots of the offensive tweets to her own personal Twitter account.

Prosecutors say their investigation found there was never any actual plan to harm students.

According to her LinkedIn profile, McKelvey has been working as a personal trainer since graduating in May from Kean with a degree in global fitness and wellness.

She was also the president of the Pan African Student Union, according to her profile.

Kean's student newspaper, the Tower, reports that McKelvey organised a rally in March to make unfounded allegations of racism against a professor and student organisation.

The university's president, Dawood Farahi, told students on Tuesday afteoon the tweets were a "heinous crime".

He said: "We are saddened the person allegedly responsible was an active participant (of the rally) and a former student.

"No cause, no cause, can give anybody the right to threaten others."

McKelvey is due in court on 14 December.