UPDATE:

ELIZABETH -- A Kean University graduate accused of sending messages threatening black students on campus is expected to make her first appearance in court on Monday.

Kayla McKelvey, 24, is scheduled to appear before Judge Joan Robinson Gross on a charge of creating a false public alarm, a third-degree crime.

McKelvey is accused of anonymously authoring the tweets from a computer in a university library on Nov. 17, in an apparent effort to increase awareness of a protest against racism.

Authorities said McKelvey had attended a protest on the campus that night, but left the other participants and went to the library to send the Twitter messages that threatened to kill black students.

McKelvey then allegedly returned to the protest and spread word of the threats. In one Twitter message, the writer threated to "shoot any black person i see at kean university."

The university said 100 students participated in a peaceful rally on Nov. 17, and ten students spent the night at the clock tower on campus, "joining students across the nation to raise awareness of recent racial unrest."

Authorities announced on Dec. 1 that McKelvey had been charged, and within hours, Kean students said they were skeptical of the allegation and would attend the court hearing in support of McKelvey, who is a former president of the university's Pan-African Student Union.

That same evening, McKelvey, who lives in Union Township several miles from the campus, called university police and reported receiving death threats. University police referred the report to Union Township police, who increased patrols around McKelvey's residence.

Tom Haydon may be reached at thaydon@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Tom_HaydonSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.