IU student Maria McComish was arrested by the IU Police Department on April 23 and charged with 12 counts of intimidation for sending holiday letters to IU administrators asking for them to divest from Israel and resign, according to a probable cause affidavit from IUPD.
The student is a member of the IU Divestment Coalition. According to an IUDC Instagram post, the organization mailed the holiday cards in December to the residences of President Pamela Whitten, the Board of Trustees and other administrators.
A probable cause affidavit from IUPD said the letters reached at least four administrators: Chief of Staff to the President Brenda Stopher, Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Todd Richardson, Trustee Jill Burnett and Trustee Cathy Langham.
The letters were sent to Richardson, Burnett and Langham’s homes in Hamilton County. The Board of Trustees granted IUPD statewide jurisdiction due to IU having multiple campuses across Indiana.
“Happy holidays! While you are spending time with your family, celebrating from the comfort of your home, Israel is decimating Gaza and committing ethnic cleansing against Palestinians,” the letter read, according to the affidavit. “We demand disclosure, divestment, resignation and restoration. You have until Jan 13 to meet these demands or we will escalate to match the severity of the situation.”
According to court documents, at least eight instances of IU officials receiving similar holiday letters have been recorded in Indiana, outside of Monroe County.
IU Public Safety received statements from Stopher, Richardson, Burnett and Langham that they feared for their safety.
A search warrant requested data from Meta that revealed IP addresses associated with the IUDC Instagram account. A search of McComish’s phone, which was linked to the account, revealed searches for trustee addresses and a note that nearly matched the language on the holiday cards, according to the affidavit.
The counts were charged as level six felonies. The minimum penalty in Indiana for a level 6 felony is six months of imprisonment, while the maximum is 2.5 years and a $10,000 fine. Alleged threats to Todd Richardson, Jill Burnett and Cathy Langham each amassed four counts of intimidation. Stopher was not named in the charges.
IUDC has scheduled protests and demonstrations in the past in support of Gaza, including the Dunn Meadow encampment last spring. The group continues to demand the resignation of Whitten, Provost Rahul Shrivastav and Vice Provost for Faculty and Academic Affairs Carrie Docherty and that IU financially divest from Israel.
IU spokesperson referred the Indiana Daily Student to IU police.
“The arrest follows an IUPD investigation into a series of threatening holiday cards sent to various Indiana University administrators across the state,” IUPD Public Information Officer Hannah Cornett told the IDS. “In addition to the charge from the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office, related charges have also been filed against McComish by prosecutors in Hancock County and Hamilton County.”
Editor’s note: Maria McComish has worked as a staff writer for the IDS in the past.
