Mercury News reports the item, which has become a symbol for racial violence, was discovered Sunday night hanging from a tree near an undergraduate residence hall. Campus police immediately removed the noose and retained it as evidence. The university confirmed its Department of Public Safety is investigating the incident as a hate crime, which is punishable by jail and/or a fine.
“As a community, we must stand united against such conduct and those who perpetrate it,” school officials wrote in a statement. “When faced with despicable acts like this, each of us must decide whether we will have the courage to help to do all that we can to prevent actions like this from occurring at Stanford, and to support those who are the targets of such actions. We also believe it is the moral responsibility of those with any knowledge of this incident to come forward and share all relevant information with DPS so that appropriate action can be taken.”
According to Stanford’s Protected Identity Harm Reporting website, campus police have reached out to students living in nearby residence halls for possible leads. They have also conducted interviews with grounds maintenance staff to obtain more information about any materials that may have been left in or around the tree.
“We are working in vigorous and committed ways to advance equity, inclusion, and belonging in our Stanford community,” Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said. “We have been making progress. But incidents like this one show how far we still have to go. It is especially dispiriting that this incident does not exist in isolation, but is part of a longer series of incidents, here and elsewhere, that continue to seek to intimidate and marginalize members of the Black community and many other communities because of their identity.”
