By KODY FISHER
WISH-TV | wishtv.com
An Indiana University grad student is facing more than a dozen intimidation charges for sending threatening Christmas cards to members of the IU Board of Trustees.
The Christmas cards demanded that the members use their power to disclose and divest the university from any ties it might have to the killing of Palestinians in Gaza.
McComish
Maria McComish is facing intimidation charges in Hamilton County, Monroe County, and Hancock County.
Calls for Indiana University to divest from Israel go all the way back to the protests in Dunn Meadow last April. Court documents say the Christmas cards make those calls to divest illegal because of the language used.
“You have until Jan. 13 to meet these demands or we will escalate to match the severity of the situation. We will not rest until YOU are no longer complicit. Sincerely, The IU Divestment Coalition,” the card read.
Because the cards called the killing of Palestinians a genocide, the Hamilton County Prosecutors Office said the phrase, “We will escalate to match the severity of the situation” meant the cards are threatening to murder the members who received them.
“That is our interpretation of the letter. We believe the intent was very clear,” said Josh Kocher, chief deputy prosecutor for the Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office.
The Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office said the cards cross the line of what is allowed under the first amendment.
“The first amendment definitely comes in in freedom of speech, but this is not an acceptable expression of political thought or political speech,” Kocher said. “Being free to express and having an open market place of ideas is something that’s very important and a corner stone in our society, but that does not mean that you get to threaten, or intimidate people into doing what you want them to do.”
The judge gave McComish a bond of $15,000.
McComish’s attorney, Matt Strzynski, did not want to speak with I-Team 8 on camera, but said, “Like any young girl being held, she wants to go home, but under the circumstances, she and her family are doing fine.”
Strzynski added that she has tremendous support from her friends. McComish will be back in court on June 23.
This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/i-team-8/iu-grad-student-charged-for-intimidating-iu-board-of-trustees.
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