Former University of Northern Iowa student sentenced for threatening 2 administrators

WATERLOO — A former University of Northern Iowa student convicted of harassing staff and threatening to shoot a dean has been sentenced to probation.

Under terms of a plea agreement, Judge Joel Dalrymple ordered 26-year-old Aisha Ahmad Nyala to follow through with any recommendations from previously ordered mental health and substance abuse evaluations.

Nyala will have to spend a year in a residential correctional facility and will be on supervised probation for up to five years. The court allowed her to be placed in a Polk County facility to be closer to her family.

Restraining orders in the case were extended for five years, and Nyala was directed to remove bogus social media accounts she set up in the victims' names, including those featuring photos of the victims' children, and other online content.

Dalrymple warned Nyala any violation of her probation could trigger a 10-year prison sentence.

Given a chance to address the court, Nyala repeated her claims that she was the victim of racism at the hands of UNI administrators who ruined her academic career. She said she regretted how she handled her anger but continued, "I've been victimized over and over."

Her comments drew objections from the state, and Dalrymple briefly halted her. "She's not the victim," the judge said.

Authorities said Nyala waged a harassment campaign against Dean of Students Allyson Rafanello and Heather Schroeder, UNI’s vice president for student life, through social media — including posts commenting how their children should be shot and celebrating the deaths of their family members.

The harassment led up to a January 2024 phone call to the Iowa Board of Regents in which she threatened to “shoot that woman in the head.”

In all, Nyala was convicted of a dozen stalking charges and three harassment charges. Some were the result of a jury trial, and others came in an Alford plea where she didn't admit guilt but pleaded to the charges in order to take advantage of benefits in the plea agreement.

Prosecutor Charity Sullivan said the victims weren't excited about the conditions of the plea agreement but also weren't opposed to it.

Rafanello said she had worked with Nyala for seven years, and had even called her mother five times to express concerns about the student's mental health. She recounted the ordeal of almost two years of concerns about her family's safety, taking steps for security and updating officials at her children's schools about the situation.

Rafanello said she doesn't feel the sentence will change Nyala's behavior and pleaded with authorities to not return her phone and other devices she used to create the posts.

Schroeder, who had never met Nyala and had contact with her only through email, said she feared being shot and was concerned about the safety of her coworkers. She said Facebook hasn't responded to pleas to take down the offending accounts.