Updated Jan. 24, 2012: Quinnipiac University cleared Courtney Stellwag of the allegations.
Three Quinnipiac University students face charges in connection with two separate incidents of threats made on campus. The arrests were made following reports of a number of racial incidents at Quinnipiac over the past several days.
Charles Merritt, an 18 year old freshman from Maine, was arrested for making threatening and harassing telephone calls Monday to three African American members of the school's basketball team. Police did not release what was said on the calls.
Merritt knew all three victims, according to Hamden police. Merritt was a roommate of two of them. Merritt was charged with a number of hate crimes and disorderly conduct complaints. He was held on a $100-thousand bond.
In a separate case, Hamden police arrested two female students for making a harassing phone call aimed at a Resident Assistant (R.A.) at Dana Hall, one of the dormitories on campus.
Emily Loschiavo, 19, from Vermont, and Courtney Stellwag, 19, from New York were arrested Wednesday for allegedly making a threatening phone call to the R.A. Police said that two friends of the intended victim answered the phone and were threatened with bodily harm. The R.A. was not at home at the time of the phone call.
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Both women were released on $2500 bond and are due in court on November 12th.
The students were dismissed from school, according to the University President's office.
University and Hamden Police began their hate crime investigations last Friday when a racial epithet and a swastika were scrawled on the door of a basketball player's room.
On Saturday, threats and more racial slurs were found written on the door of a room in Dana Hall, where three other basketball players live. Soon after, the players said, they started receiving harassing and threatening calls on their cell phones.
The school said the investigation into the series of hate crimes was continuing.
