A noose hanging from a tree at the University of Maryland, College Park has sparked a hate-crime investigation, campus police said.
“The possibility that this act appears intended to bring to mind the horrific crime of lynching, which is such a terrible and tragic part of our nation’s past, is particularly abhorrent,” President Dan Mote wrote in a letter to university students, faculty and staff.
Campus police responded to reports of the noose hanging from a tree outside of the Nyumburu Cultural Center about 4:15 p.m. Friday.
The noose had been removed by someone earlier that day, but witnesses had seen it hanging since Thursday, police spokesman Paul Dillon said. The rope used to tie the noose has not been located.
The Nyumburu Cultural Center is “the center for black social, cultural and intellectual interaction,” according to the center?s mission statement. The building houses the Black Faculty and Staff Association and the Black Explosion newspaper.
“The University of Maryland will not tolerate discrimination, harassment or acts of hate,” Mote said in the letter.
Police have not identified any suspects nor determined a motive.
“It could be students, faculty, staff or someone not affiliated with the university,” Dillon said. “There was nothing going on that would spark something like this.”
Once a suspect has been identified, the case will be turned over to the state?s attorney to determine the specific crime, Dillon said.
