SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA police department is investigating an incident of alleged violent threats made on social media toward a woman by a now former teaching assistant.
Twitter user Ashley StClair contacted UTSA’s Twitter account Tuesday evening to alert the university of the physical and vulgar threats she claimed to receive. She posted the following.
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“Hey @UTSA, One of your students/teaching assistants threatened to come to my house, kill, and rape me because of my politics.”
“If someone from your staff could DM/contact me, it’d be greatly appreciated.”
Hey @UTSA
— Ashley StClair 🇺🇸 (@stclairashley) July 8, 2020
One of your students/teaching assistants threatened to come to my house, kill, and rape me because of my politics
If someone from your staff could DM/contact me, it’d be greatly appreciated.
StClair said the threat was in response to a tweet she has pinned on her Twitter page about transgender children.
She describes herself as a Freedom Fighter and a patriot on her Twitter profile, and her tweets are generally politically charged.
About an hour after her request to the university, UTSA’s Twitter account responded to StClair and posted the following:
“Wanted you know we have been made aware of this situation based on the Twitter posts tonight. The UTSA Police Department has been alerted and is looking into this as we speak.”
Wanted you know we have been made aware of this situation based on the Twitter posts tonight. The UTSA Police Department has been alerted and is looking into this as we speak.
— UTSA (@UTSA) July 8, 2020
StClair responded with another tweet that said UTSA had contacted her and she was “impressed with their response.”
She added that she hoped that the “proper actions are taken against him.”
“I also hope that this man never works around students again — especially women,” the post read.
UPDATE: @UTSA has reached out to me & I just got off of the phone with UTSA Police
— Ashley StClair 🇺🇸 (@stclairashley) July 8, 2020
I am very impressed with their response to the threats & hope that the proper actions are taken against him.
I also hope that this man never works around students again— especially women.
UTSA Associate Vice President and Chief Communications Officer Joe Izbrand responded to a request for comment Wednesday afternoon with the following statement:
“We take this allegation very seriously. As soon as we were made aware of the situation yesterday the UTSA Police Department was notified. An investigator made immediate contact with the individual who reported the threat. She was appreciative of the prompt response and the opportunity to speak with a police officer. An inquiry is underway involving this former teaching assistant, who is no longer in this role.”