BELLINGHAM — A Granite Falls High School graduate has been suspended from Western Washington University after allegedly making racist threats against other students on social media, which led to the campus being closed last week.
Tysen Dane Campbell, 19, was arrested Monday and has been barred from the Bellingham campus.
“As a suspended student he cannot participate in university activities, including the track and field team, of which he has been a member,” university spokesman Paul Cocke said Tuesday. Campbell was a pole vaulter.
He was arrested by university police on campus Monday and booked into the Whatcom County Jail for investigation of felony malicious harassment.
Under state law, malicious harassment is a hate crime covering threats based on a victim’s “race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or mental, physical, or sensory handicap.”
Campbell, who has not been formally charged, made a court appearance Tuesday and was released from jail after posting $10,000 bail.
The 2014 Granite Falls High School graduate is accused of writing “Let’s lynch her” on the social media platform Yik Yak.
University officials canceled classes Nov. 24, after reading posts they said targeted minorities in a series of threats. The threats were made around the time some students were raising the issue of replacing the school’s Viking mascot.
That day, university President Bruce Shepard wrote a message explaining the decision to close the campus.
“I need to be VERY clear here: we are not talking merely insulting, rude, offensive commentary that trolls and various other lowlifes seem free to spew, willy nilly, although there has been plenty of that, too” Shepard wrote. “No, this was hate speech.”
On Nov. 27, Shepard specifically referred to one post on Yik Yak that reportedly read, “Lets lynch her,” referring to Belina Seare, president of WWU’s Associated Students, The Bellingham Herald reported. That post has since disappeared.
WWU Police Chief Darin Rasmussen, a former Marysville Police lieutenant, praised Yik Yak for its cooperation in the investigation. He also thanked the Bellingham Police Department and the FBI for their assistance. The university police department obtained a search warrant and worked with Yik Yak to track down the threat’s author.
Attempts to contact Campbell’s family were not successful Tuesday. Granite Falls School District officials also declined to talk about the case because they did not know the specifics. Campbell was a good student and a three-sport athlete at Granite Falls High School, district officials said.
The Bellingham Herald contributed to this story. Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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