Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Issue date: 9/10/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Photo courtesy of University Police

A Jim Crow-era symbol of hate outside the Nyumburu Cultural Center has united student leaders in outrage, but has also renewed concern that the campus lacks sufficient dialogue about diversity.

Students say that even as administrators have worked to keep the student body statistically diverse and have often promoted the campus as a melting pot of student life, divisions remain. To ensure this rare hate crime does not repeat, student leaders have called for a campus-wide discussion of racial tensions.

After Black Student Union President Altmann Pannell saw the noose in the stairwell between the Stamp Student Union and Nyumburu, he had no doubts as to the malicious intent behind its placement. He said the rope was about five feet long, coarse like twine and hung high enough to raise questions about how it was erected.

"I wouldn't say I am stunned or distraught, I just want to know what is going on at the campus I love," Pannell said. "We get into our bubble and think life is great, but the outside world is not. Race is still an issue today, regardless of how taboo it might seem."

Javier Montenegro, a senior government and politics major and former Latino Student Union president, echoed similar concerns.

"It doesn't surprise me because there is a lot of latent racism that is not so explicit. It only takes one act," he said.

University President Dan Mote said a full investigation is in order and called the hate crime a university-wide issue. However, some student leaders are worried that responsibility and subsequent dialogue will be delegated only to cultural groups on campus instead of expanding discussion to all students.

"My hope and wish for this incident is that it doesn't fall solely into the hands of cultural groups, but that the university addresses this issue that affects everyone and issues a mandate as something that endangers the entire campus community," said Connie Iloh, a BSU vice president.

"This noose is not just the Black, African or Caribbean student's problem… it's everyone's problem," Pannell said.

Student Government Association Andrew Friedson issued a statement condemning the act, saying such bigotry threatens the university community at-large.

"Hanging a noose outside of our cultural center is not a prank," Friedson said in a written statement. "It is a painful allusion to the domestic terrorism that plagued our country's past and a clear indication that our struggle to end racism is not over."

Continued...

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