A noose was found hanging from a tree in front of a student residence on the Stanford University campus. The residence hall was housing high school students who were attending a camp on campus.
In a statement to the campus community, Susie Brubaker-Cole vice provost for student affairs and Laura Wilson chief of the Department of Public Safety at Stanford wrote:
“A noose is widely recognized as a symbol of violence and racism directed particularly against African American people, as well as other people of color. Given a noose is a symbol representing a threat to life, it is a crime for an individual to hang a noose on a college campus for the purpose of terrorizing any person who is associated with the institution. Our community values affirm the dignity of all peoples and call upon us to speak out against racism and other forms of bias and discrimination in a voice of solidarity and shared humanity. Together, we must continue to strive for a just community in which discrimination and hate-fueled intimidation have no presence.”
The administrators added that “recognizing that this incident created fear, anger and frustration for many in our community, Students Affairs and the Department of Public Safety are committed to continuing to improve the response and communication around incidents such as this one.”
