A conservative journalist will stage a protest at Pennsylvania State University on Tuesday, saying the school has refused to expel a Muslim student who threatened her and who praised the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Laura Loomer said not only didn’t Penn State fail to discipline Hussein Altarakmah, but the school even provided him with police protection after his controversial tweets calling her a “disgusting subhuman piece of garbage” and telling her to “get the [expletive] out of my country.”
“This goes back to all the problems at Penn State,” Ms. Loomer said, referencing recent scandals that have plagued the school, including Jerry Sandusky and the death of a fraternity pledge during a hazing ritual.
“They covered up for a pedophile, they covered up for fraternity hazing,” she said. “They just cover everything up.”
She said the Twitter attack was unprovoked, and included a photo of dead U.S. troops’ coffins with the caption: “Not all Yanks are bad, of course. Here are some good ones.
“Can’t wait for Trump to permanently cripple your country. 9/11 didn’t kill enough of you [expletive],” another tweet read.
Other messages from the Kuwaiti-born Mr. Altarakmah to Ms. Loomer read, “I hope Iran nukes your country” and a screen caption of the high suicide rate among military veterans with the note, “some good news to cheer you up.”
A spokeswoman for Penn State said the school took action by notifying law enforcement and said any further steps could interfere with the investigations.
Ms. Loomer, once affiliated with the conservative secret-video team Project Veritas, bills herself as an investigative citizen journalist and “proud American Jew.”
Ms. Loomer notified the FBI, Homeland Security and Penn State campus police nearly a month ago. Penn State did not publicly disclose the incident until a Dec. 7 tweet from campus police.
“We are aware of concerns over some recent controversial comments by a student,” the tweet read. “We take the safety of our campus community very seriously. This has been investigated jointly by PSU PD and federal authorities and there are no threats to our campus at this time.”
About an hour later, the school retweeted the police department’s statement.
“The University responded immediately at the time of the incident and is not going to comment further,” the school said. “Any faculty or student matters are confidential.”
Since reporting the tweets Ms. Loomer said no one has updated her on the progress of the investigations.
She has become frustrated with the lack of urgency by school and law enforcement officials.
“I feel like I’ve been abandoned,” she said.
Federal law and local law enforcement declined to discuss the investigation.
An FBI spokesman referred to the Penn State police tweet. Homeland Security and campus police did not respond to a request for comment.
The Penn State Muslim Student Association also did not respond to a request for comment.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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