Student apologizes for UC San Diego noose incident, claims no racist intent

[Nikki Stone1]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Student apologizes for UC San Diego noose incident, claims no racist intent
March 1, 2010 | 3:12 pm

The UC San Diego student reportedly responsible for last week’s controversial noose episode issued a public, but anonymous, apology Monday and said she'd had no racist intent when she hung the rope from a bookcase in the campus' main library. The discovery of the noose set off angry protests at a school already tense from racially charged episodes and triggered a round of condemnations from UC leaders and even the governor....

...."I know what I did was offensive -- regardless of my intentions -- I am just trying to say I’m sorry. As a minority student who sympathizes with the students that have been affected by the recent issues on campus, I am distraught to know that I have unintentionally added to their pain," wrote the student, who was suspended Friday and remains under investigation by campus police for a possible hate crime.

The letter is signed "by Anonymous UCSD Student" and offers no clues to her identity or ethnicity. A note at the end of the letter states that the newspaper had verified the author’s authenticity. Sari Thayer, the Guardian’s Web editor, said in a telephone interview that the woman had approached the paper and asked to publish the letter and that "a reliable source" had confirmed it.

In the letter, the woman said she and friends had been playing with a rope, jumping with it, making a lasso and then a noose early last week. She then carried it to the library, where she was studying, and strung it over a desk there Tuesday and forgot about it. Its discovery Thursday night caused a firestorm on campus, where racial tensions were high after a Jan. 15 off-campus party mocked Black History Month and a derogatory term for blacks was used on a student television show.

When she realized the controversial noose was her responsibility, "I felt so ashamed and embarrassed, and the first thing I did was call the campus police and confess," she wrote. She said her motivation in publishing the letter was "to hopefully put a little bit of faith back into the UCSD campus by clarifying that it was not an act of racism."

Read more: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/03/student-apologizes-for-ucsd-noose-says-no-racist-intent.html

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SEE BACK STORY AT:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4286603&mesg_id=4286603

[mbperrin]

1. Sniff, sniff, sniff......mmm...fresh bullshit! Gotta love the aroma!

Arrest this person, charge them, convict them, lock them away for the year.

Good gawd, I've got a five year old grandson can make up a better lie than this in five minutes!

I know in my undergrad days, jumping rope was HUGH! Seriesly! And makin' nooses in the liberry, love it, love it! This coulda happened to ennybuddy! Seriesly!



Okay, I know the perp is stupid, but I resent them thinking I'M stupid enough to believe this shit....

[jberryhill]

2. Convict her of what?

Littering?

In your answer, please cite to the relevant section of the California Code.

[RantinRavin]

8. CALIFORNIA CODES PENAL CODE SECTION 11411

11411. (a) Any person who hangs a noose, knowing it to be a symbol
representing a threat to life, on the property of another, without
authorization, for the purpose of terrorizing the owner or occupant
of that private property or in reckless disregard of the risk of
terrorizing the owner or occupant of that private property, or who
hangs a noose, knowing it to be a symbol representing a threat to
life, on the property of a primary school, junior high school, high
school, college campus, public park, or place of employment, for the
purpose of terrorizing any person who attends or works at the school,
park, or place of employment, or who is otherwise associated with
the school, park, or place of employment, shall be punished by
imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, or by a fine
not to exceed five thousand dollars ($5,000), or by both the fine and
imprisonment for the first conviction or by imprisonment in a county
jail not to exceed one year, or by a fine not to exceed fifteen
thousand dollars ($15,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment for
any subsequent conviction.

[Nikki Stone1]

9. The problem is she claims she didn't HANG it, she just left it on the table

I imagine the police are trying to find out if she is lying or if there was someone else who hung it.

[MineralMan]

16. She's lying. And trying to pull a "poor ignorant me" trick.

That never works. She should just 'fess up and move on.

[Nikki Stone1]

78. I wonder if her attorney told her to cop to the tying (her fingerprints were on it) but not the

hanging, since the hanging is the crime.

[Bo]

92. Many cultures have NO idea what a noose symbolizes in the USA

Latin American, Asian, trust me here in Latin America students have no idea that in the USA it is a racially charged symbol. Very simple. Move On.

[architect359]

97. Oh really?

What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

[MineralMan]

18. There ya go. Good job!

[paulsby]

47. which requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt of all elements of the crime

including the intent portions.

iow, *if* what she is saying is true, she didn't violate the law

[U4ikLefty]

62. jump right in with that. nt

[paulsby]

64. just speaking truth to power nt

[ProgressiveProfessor]

88. Her statement would get her off the hook (so to speak) if it bears out

[Mike K]

82. The pivotal element -

- in this ambitious bit of legislation are the words, ". . . knowing it to be. . ."

How would one go about proving that someone who ties and hangs a noose knew it to be a symbol representing a threat to life? All one can do is assume such a specific awareness and assumptions prove nothing.

[Nikki Stone1]

3. You know, the jumping rope thing made me wonder if she was a foreign student

She says she is a minority too, so I'm wondering if she is Asian (from Asia, not the US.)

[marshall]

12. It probably never dawned on her that it is illegal to display a piece of knotted rope

Such things are difficult for those outside our culture to understand.

[MineralMan]

17. Oh, bullcrap!

[lumpy]

100. Hear hear

v

[True_Blue]

63. Was it a jump rope or a rope?

Who plays jumping games with ropes? When I wss a kid, I always used a jump rope.

[Skip Intro]

4. Maybe she's completely honest here. She did volunteer responsibility. nt

[MineralMan]

6. Maybe she got caught, and is trying to weasel her way out of it.

Which do you think is more likely?

[havocmom]

14. BINGO! It was a cowardly/bully act and she is doing a coward's defense

[MineralMan]

15. Yup. She's even being "anonymous."

Just another racist moron. Let her feel the shame. Let her suffer the consequences of her actions.

I have no compassion for this one. Too many people died with a noose around their necks to let this shit slide.

[Juche]

24. How did she get caught, she turned herself in?

[Igel]

Obviously.

She's trying to weasel out of having turned herself in.

What more proof do we need? She's guilty beyond any reasoning doubt.

[True_Blue]

58. Or she knew there were witnesses

Seriously...who carries a noose with them around school?

[Ecumenist]

70. Folks who are pledging the Junior auxiilary United Racists of "Merica.

Now, how could forget that they're recruiting and they require that their pleadge carry the requisite nooses, white sheets & the HANDY DANDY Purse size bullwhip? You should know better! :sarcasm:

[architect359]

98. Wow. You are just gunning for her aren't you? n/t

[No Elephants]

21. No. Just no.

[MineralMan]

5. Yah, right. I believe you 120%. You betcha.

Racist asshole!

[Nikki Stone1]

7. We still don't know who hung the noose from the light

She left it on the table in the library. Maybe she had help.

[MineralMan]

11. Ya know, I'm pretty intolerant of nooses left in public places.

They have a really, really bad history, you know.

She's trying to back away from her stupid prank. It's that simple. Away with her. She can enroll in some community college for a couple of years. We forget quickly.

[marshall]

25. What next? Will she burn a flag in public?

That is a charged symbol too.

[RedCappedBandit]

37. Pathetic analogy.

[marshall]

90. Well, then maybe she could burn her bra

That is also a politically charged statement.

BTW, there is an online site where one can virtually burn a flag of one's choice:
http://burntflag.com/

[Nikki Stone1]

79. I'd still like to know who did the hanging

The case isn't closed until we know that.

[RedCappedBandit]

46. We don't even know who wrote the letter

It could have been anyone.

Regardless, why would anybody actually just tie some rope into a noose and play around with it on campus? Seems like a load of BS.

[True_Blue]

61. And apparently carried it around at school

but forgot it in the library. Do school libraries let people bring in nooses?

[Mike K]

68. Not necessarily.

When I was stationed on Okinawa in the mid-50s, someone tied a noose and hung it in the head. Back then there were no Blacks at all in that outfit and relatively few in the Marine Corps at large, so there was no racial implication and none was inferred. It was generally presumed to be a darkly humorous expression of the effects of crushing boredom, the lousy chow, the humid heat and the vicious Okinawan mosquitoes.

So as long as the implicit purpose of this UC noose remains unknown none of the speculations are valid and serve only to cause trouble.

[Ecumenist]

71. OH please....

After all the HIGHLY racial incidents that have been recorded in the last few weeks, only an idiot would believe what you're trying to get everyone to believe. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining. Enjoy your visit to DU, Mikey boy.

[Mike K]

80. I merely expressed my opinion .

I'm not trying to get anyone to believe anything because I frankly don't give a damn about the noose. It doesn't affect or bother me in the least. But if all it takes to get you so agitated is for some anonymous provocateur, probably for no reason other than idle, sadistic humor, to tie a noose and hang it, then you have quite a problem -- and you're welcome to it.

Even if the noose-hanger is a racist, so what? Are you surprised there are racists in American society? This incident is not as if someone hung a sign with your name on it along with some explicit racist language. It is a nondescript, anonymous, randomly directed gesture done for exactly the purpose it's achieved -- to piss you and so many others off and get you hopping around like scalded hens.

The simple fact is you don't know who did it and so you cannot be absolutely certain of the motivation for it. So the best thing you can do is get over it. But if you prefer to keep banging your head against a wall over it, then knock yourself out. I don't mind a bit.

[Name removed]

95. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[handmade34]

10. trash

[Mendocino]

13. Yea right.

And George "Maccaca" Allen has a rope collection.

[No Elephants]

19. Novak said on national TV, in front of God and everybody, that "macaca" means

something in Italian. I cannot remember what he said it meant, but it was something totally innocuous. (a) novak's statement was totally false, something no reporter should ever have said without having checked; and (b) if true, had notthing to do with George Allen, anyway, who never even claimed to have been speaking Italian.

[liberation]

22. Macaca is not Italian, it is a slur in French...

... and it is not an innocent word, it has a very clear meaning. The fact that the senator used that very same word against the dark-skinned person doing the taping is why it was such an offensive action for a senator to engage in.

Republicans and conservatives are all the same ilk: always shoveling personal responsibility down other people's throats, but passing the buck at supersonic speeds when it comes to them.


If this lady indeed thought this was a "jumping rope" I want to know how on earth was she able to make it to one of our nation's top universities with such lack of mental power. So she is either a racist or stupid, either way she just exposed herself as not fit for higher learning. Now, let's see what creative excuses the concern contingent comes up with...

[Igel]

50. Don't know.

Never considered UCSD to be one of the US's top universities.

I saw a picture the caption of which said it was "the" rope. It was nylon, or at least synthetic-polymer-based. It was green.

Could it have been a jump rope in a previous life? Sure. I've seen kids make nooses out of rope that they hung their clothes on at summer camp or hung their food from at winter camp.

[Rapier09]

20. The Democrats either need to shut these people down hard

Or go back to being the Jim Crow Party.

People commit suicide because of sociopaths like that. I don't want her to be ashamed and embarassed(anymore then I want her convicted),I want her kicked out of college.

Trash like that is killing this country.

[hayu_lol]

26. Thanks Nikki for keeping up with this...

can't really tell if the person involved is being truthful or not. She did say that two others were with her. Time will tell on that. Problem with the situation is that the noose was left lying around shortly after the hate party was held.

No matter what, we are still held to the standard of reasonable doubt.

[Duchess]

33. Trash?

I would say that someone who made a mistake, turned herself in, and apologized is probably not trash. I would think that she doesn't need to be shut down hard either. UCSD would be stupid to use a zero tolerance policy in this case (although she will likely leave on her own).

In the absence of proven ill intent, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. She turned herself in...that's more than most would have done.

[Rapier09]

43. If some black girl/boy had decided to hang herself after the incident

She and her friends would most likely be high fiving each other.

She didn't turn herself in,she made a bunch of crap up.Not only is she a racist,she is a coward on top of it.

[Duchess]

48. I'm still learning

the ropes to this whole online forum thing but I think your argument has a specific technical term...I don't know what it is but basically your assuming something you don't know. You assumption is overly dramatic and made to elicit an emotional rather than rational response.

There is no evidence to suggest she would want anyone to commit suicide. She made a noose but I don't think slipknots are illegal (unless they are hung with intent to terrorize - no evidence of that either). If there were some sort of inflammatory sign with the noose I might be inclined to agree with you.

She turned herself in, the authorities will investigate her story, I'm guessing her story will hold up (but I could be wrong).

I don't think she's a coward for remaining anonymous...I think she smart/scared of retribution. Retribution for an act that I think will ultimately be proven an innocent mistake (or at least won't be proven to be criminal beyond a reasonable doubt).

Until there is more evidence I will give her the benefit of the doubt.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

89. Just like those who did similar vile acts at Columbia Teachers College and at Claremont-McKenna

[Juche]

23. I tend to believe her

Why did she turn herself in if she had malicious intent?

I wonder if she is Asian, and doesn't understand what nooses represent here.

[LisaL]

27. Since when are Asian considered a minority?

[Juche]

28. When a white person goes there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83L8Dep1kII

[MellowDem]

36. I don't think calling someone out...

by their race really helps here. You don't know their circumstances, so just answer the question and don't automatically resort to berating. I think it's interesting, because it does reflect a certain truth about how minorities are presented and portrayed in the US and gets at the ambiguity of the term in the first place.

[Juche]

38. By 'Asian', I mean maybe she was raised abroad and doesn't understand US traditions

If I went to China, I would have no idea what symbols were associated with the Japanese invasion or the rape of Nanking. And I may end up doing something really offensive and not know it since I don't understand the nuances of Chinese history and culture. My guess/assumption was that this girl may have been born and raised in Asia and not really understand what a noose means over here.

[MellowDem]

40. It's a distinct possibility...

and if that is the case, and her story is true, then it could have been another student that saw the noose and threw it over the light for shits and giggles. I guess the only hard to believe part for me is tying the rope into a noose as part of "playing around" with rope. But I'm sure we'll be getting more information here soon.

[Tunkamerica]

49. i remember being a cub scout and tying knots

and of course trying to figure out the noose. Not because I was racist, but because it seemed like a cool knot.

[MellowDem]

56. I understand that...

but when I was an undergraduate in college, my interests definitely lied elsewhere. Not to mention, if I had been carrying a noose around in the library I would probably have gotten some weird looks to say the least. Maybe she had it in the backpack. But why would one get it out in the library? And the "coincidence" of all the racial tension on campus at the time seems a bit too much. There's something that hasn't been explained yet, so we'll see.

[cigsandcoffee]

29. How are Asians not a minority? n/t

[Frank Booth]

30. You're kidding, right?

Race/Ethnicity (2008)
White 79.8%
African American 12.8%
Asian American 4.5%
Native American and Alaska Native 1.0%
Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander 0.2%
Multiracial 1.7%
Hispanic (of any race) 15.4%

[LisaL]

32. Well...

There is nothing in the letter that suggests the student who describes herself as minority is in fact Asian.

[Juche]

39. Meh. The fact that they were playing juvenile games in a group

Leads me to think 'asian', since I can't imagine latino girls getting into a group and playing jump rope or making lassos, but I can imagine Asian girls doing that. Plus I've been to UCSD, and they are heavily Asian.

http://www.pittnews.com/article/2010/03/01/christensen-ucsd-students-revive-ignorance

Black students are just drastically underrepresented. The minority-majority of students at UCSD are Asian (39.8 percent), followed by white (30.5 percent) and Hispanic (20.4 percent).




Either way, I'm getting the impression the girl may have just not understood what a noose means in a racially sensitive culture like ours. Like I said earlier, if I went to China I wouldn't know what represented the Japanese invasion. If I went to Armenia, I wouldn't know what symbols were associated with the 1915 Armenia genocide. I could probably do something really offensive and not know it. So my view is to take her at her word unless an investigation shows otherwise.

[Igel]

54. But at UCSD something like 49% of the frosh

are Asian. They form the largest cohort, with Caucasians in the low 20s.

I'm white. In my neighborhood, I'm in the 3rd or 4th smallest group. Black first, followed by Latino, and then at a distant 3rd either Arab or white (if we're going to distinguish the two).

Houston's about 1/3 black, 1/3 Latino, 1/3 "anglo" (although I loathe the term, applying it to me is rather like calling a Mexican "Spanish").

But I guess in I'm in the majority?

So an Asian at UCSD is a minority in the US but part of the de facto majority at UCSD. So hard to sort out such things when it all depends on what your sample is.

[MellowDem]

31. Always...

though when one hears the word "minority" people usually don't first think of Asians. Part of it is that Asians have in many ways integrated much better than other groups. They earn the most on average as well, which might be part of the reason. They also are a relatively small minority. And, they really don't have the same racial history and identity that blacks in the US do. Many Asians are fairly recent immigrants, and although there is definitely a history of bigotry towards them in the US, it wasn't as racialized. Their culture in many ways allow them to succeed in our society, as mainstream US culture matches and rewards a lot of the traits of Asian cultures.

To me, minorities are usually considered to be those who are most different culturally from the rest of society and isolated as well. Though, technically, any "non-white" person would be considered one in the US. Then again, even certain white groups are given minority statuses of sorts, like Appalachia. It's a fairly ambiguous term, which it has to be, especially when it comes to something as subjective in meaning as "race".

[McCamy Taylor]

67. Since they used to lynch Chinese immigrants in the old west.

Did you think lynching only happened to Black folks?


A Lynching In Denver's Chinatown, 1880

The “ethnic cleansing” of Chinese (including Chinese-Americans) from the American West was one of the darkest chapters in our nation's history. Writes John Higham in Strangers in the Land, “No variety of anti-European sentiment has ever approached the violent extremes to which anti-Chinese agitation went in the 1870s and 1880s.” Many of the estimated 200 American lynchings victimizing people of Asian descent occurred during this dark era.

In 1880, many Chinese lived in Hop Alley, Denver's Chinatown. In October of that year an anti-Chinese riot resulted in the lynching of a Chinese man and the injuring of many others. A mob of approximately 3000 people had gathered in Hop Alley, consisting of “illegal voters, Irishmen and some Negroes.” Only 8 Policemen were on duty at the outbreak of the riot. Firemen brought in to disperse the crowd hosed them with water but this only made them angrier. The mob began to destroy Chinese businesses, to loot Chinese homes and to injure many Chinese. According to the Rocky Mountain News, the Chinese quarter was “gutted as completely as though a cyclone had come in one door and passed out the rear. There was nothing left...whole.” During this vicious mob attack, a man named Look Young, was dragged down Denver's 19th Street by rioters. According to a physician, he died “from compression of the brain, caused by being beaten and kicked.” Look was twenty-eight years old and employed at the Sing Lee Laundry. He left behind a wife, father, and mother in China, who were wholly dependent upon him for support.

http://www.americanlynching.com/infamous-old.html

[True_Blue]

65. She didn't say what ethnicity she was

or that she was foreign or that she didn't know what a noose is.

There had to be people that seen her carrying it around so she figured that she would come forward before someone turned her in. Of course she's going to make something up if she doesn't want to get kicked out of school.

[ElboRuum]

34. I believe her.

But I can tell from many responses here that everyone must mean ill, mistakes never happen, people understand the ramifications of their actions every moment of every day, and the worst is all we can expect from anyone except ourselves. I'd roll eyes here, but there is no sense pressing the obvious.

On edit: oh, I know, I could be wrong, but you know, that isn't stopping everyone else here from spouting off in ignorance of the facts.

[RedCappedBandit]

35. Yeah, people just run around playing with fucking nooses

How many college kids even know how to *tie* a noose? Seems like something most people would have to look up beforehand, no?

Maybe I'm just a knot noob.

[Igel]

66. Probably more than you'd think.

My scout troop for a while had a hangman's knot motif going for a while after we had a series of knot-tying lessons: the adults realized we couldn't tie a square knot in 30 minutes with a diagram next to us.

Since hangman's nooses were gross and we were 14- to 16-year-boys, we tied them. I was never very good at it but probably could still tie one today--it's just a glorified slip knot, and I tie slip knots nearly every week. Another source of motivation was that my patrol leader was squeamish, ensuring that we used nooses for hanging flashlights, laundry bags, and nearly anything else that could be hung up using a noose. (My patrol leader died perhaps 15 years later from AIDS.)

My troop was all-white at the time and for us nooses had more to do with gallows and the Wild West or state-sanctioned executions than race relations. And grossing out my patrol leader. So, yeah. Some people just run around playing with nooses, hangman's and other kinds. And for entirely non-racist reasons.

After a few months the scoutmaster issued a "no hangman's noose" policy, although it took a while to get them all worked out of the scout equipment and our packs. We thought it odd that one kid, Joey, was exempted from the new policy.

I could tell you about Joey, but that's a longish story. Let's just summarize it by saying he had to cut his father down from the rafters of their garage; fortunately his dad was still alive because he couldn't tie a decent hangman's noose--he killed himself months later using some firearm (Joey found him after that, too). This was why our scoutmaster issued a noose ban in our troop. Joey's therapist said Joey's nearly obsessive hangman's knot tying was his way of working through the trauma, so Joey was exempted from the ban.

These days "looking up something beforehand" is trivial. To make sure I remembered how to tie a hangman's noose I went to Wikipedia: Yep, 2 bights, 13 loops, put the end through and cinch it down. (Wiki says the number of loops depends on the rope, but we insisted on the canonical 13 loops.) If you can tie a slip know, a noose isn't that much harder. Like I said, it's a glorified slip knot.

Don't know the young UCSD woman's story. But if a person has no taboo against hangman's nooses and they don't have any symbolic meaning for that person then they're just knots.

[pundaint]

73. Yes. And I'm sure that's what went on here. I use my boy scout noose skills to

keep long extension cords and camping ropes stored neatly and ready for use. I know about the history of lynching, and I still do not first associate nooses with race, especially green ones.

[MellowDem]

41. I think these stories always seem to prove...

that jumping to the most obvious conclusions before all the facts are in is not a good idea.

[scottsoperson]

42. i think the eeoc gets

about 100,000 complaints like this a year. but those are on-the-job incidents.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

93. One I read about one so bogus it was funny

Complaint was that a guy saw a noose in the back of a coworkers vehicle in the parking lot. Turned out it was a climbing roped stored looped and wound/hanked. The person reporting still held out for the owners firing since it "looked like a noose". When that was rejected by is employer he filed.

[Quantess]

44. It's possible she did not mean to make a racist statement.

Young people can be clueless idiots that way.

It's also possible she was indeed trying to make a racist statement.

[scottsoperson]

45. most whites think blacks are better off than them financially

???

[Tunkamerica]

51. what are you talking about?

[bitchkitty]

55. I don't know why you think that,

or what it has to do with the post, but you're wrong.

[Quantess]

57. Hi, I think you may have responded to the wrong post.

:)

[pundaint]

74. So the idiot is not the one who does the misinterpreting?

[Quantess]

84. You replied to my post.

What did you mean to ask me?

[yellowcanine]

52. Sorry but that "explanation" is downright lame. I could see a group of students playing around with

a rope and even making a noose. But carrying it to the library, laying it down and "forgetting" about it? No I am sorry, I do not buy that.

[laughingliberal]

53. K & R nt

[saracat]

59. Hey. I was told this isn't an important issue on another thread! K+R

"And this is certainly not anything anyone who has ever been involved with any minorities would find exceptional".:grr: Unbelievable that some would say this on a Democratic site..:wtf: Thank you for posting this.

[Nikki Stone1]

77. Who told you that??

Unimportant, my ass!

[waiting for hope]

60. K&R

Thanks for all the updates! :)

[Ecumenist]

69. What the F%ck??!!

That's like putting a rape kit in a women's center. That bitch knew what she was doing and trying to cry stupid is about as believable as microscope with mud lenses.

[Rapier09]

75. As I said

People like that usually laugh at the kind of psychological damage they do.

They have got sociopathic tendencies and should be removed from campus.Them moment it started affecting her was the moment she started caring.As I said has a black person committed suicide over this......she would have been laughing about it.

[Nikki Stone1]

87. She should at least be arraigned.

/

[pundaint]

72. OK, everybody who thinks that this was an act of terror, take a breath and think a minute.

If I want to scare you, or make a political statement, am I really going to use a green jump rope and hang noose in the library to do it? Really? That's what you all believe? There are real people out to get us in executive suites all over the country, and you want to waste time making up a scary scenario out of knot tying? Puhleeze

[Bluebear]

76. Yes, but you don't get to define what terrorizes a community.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

91. And we don't get to decide her intent here at DU

Lots of details are not out in public and a student voluntarily fessed up to at least part of it. Parts of the confession, if verified would mean no prosecution.

[Nikki Stone1]

81. THE COMPLETE TEXT OF THE LETTER FROM the UCSD Guardian

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/feature-on-slider/noose-in-geisel-was-not-intended-as-a-threat/

I have a story that needs to be heard. I am the girl you’ve read about, the one who hung the noose in Geisel Library.
Firstly, I’m writing to apologize. I don’t have an excuse for what I did, and I deeply regret it.
Secondly, I’m writing to hopefully put a little bit of faith back into the UCSD campus by clarifying that it was not an act of racism. This is what happened.

I found a small piece of rope on the ground earlier in the day. While I was hanging out with my friends a bit later, we tried jump-roping with it and making it into a lasso. My friend then took the rope and tied it into a noose. I innocently marveled at his ability to tie a noose, without thinking of any of its connotations or the current racial climate at UCSD. I left soon after with one of my friends for Geisel to study, still carrying the rope. After a bit of studying I picked up the rope to play with, and ended up hanging it by my desk. It was a mindless act and stupid mistake. When I got up to leave, a couple hours later, I simply forgot about it. This was Tuesday night. Three days later, on Friday morning, I found out that the noose had been found and construed as another racist act on campus. I felt so ashamed and embarrassed, and the first thing I did was call the campus police and confess. I was hoping to clarify that this was not an act of racism before the incident got a full reaction from the campus. I gave my statement around 9 a.m. They thanked me for coming forward and for trying to clear up the issue. Later, I received a campuswide e-mail saying that I confessed and had been taken into custody, which simply wasn’t true. One thing that is true is that I have been suspended. I know what I did was offensive — regardless of my intentions — I am just trying to say I’m sorry. As a minority student who sympathizes with the students that have been affected by the recent issues on campus, I am distraught to know that I have unintentionally added to their pain.

Editor’s note: the Guardian has verified the author’s authenticity.

[Nikki Stone1]

83. UCSD Guardian: "The noose was in the library for two days without anybody reporting it."

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/opinion/editorials/look-up-you’re-part-of-the-problem/

Look Up: You’re Part of the Problem
Posted on 01 March 2010
By Editorial Board

Zachary Watson/Guardian
It’s hard to believe the “Compton Cookout” was only two weeks ago today. Two emotionally charged rallies and teach-ins later — snowballed by idiot moves from the Koala and an anonymous girl with a rope — racial tensions on campus have reached epic proportions.

When you Google “UCSD” and the first predictive text that comes up is “UCSD noose,” you know you’ve got a problem.
Interestingly enough, if each of the three racist incidents is considered in isolation, it becomes clear that a couple ignorant/unfeeling individuals with too much time on their hands have managed to set our campus up in flames.
Elliot Van Nostrand and his bros copied some Urban Dictionary definitions and tied them to Black History Month — a bad joke that was not theirs to make, of course, but one they somehow had little idea would appall the students it targeted. Koala Editor in Chief Kris Gregorian was undoubtedly more aware of the dagger he was throwing on Student-Run Television, but his clan has a long history of exploiting the right to hate speech, and it was only timing that gave one self-important idealogue this power to do real harm. (In addition, the cardboard scrap reading “Compton lynching” later found in the studio is known to have been written as a joke prompt by a nonstudent standerby. Stupid.) Most recently, the female student who came forward for leaving a noose in Geisel Library claims it was out of clueless negligence; so whether or not she’s just playing dumb, the girl doesn’t seem to be out to get anybody.

Unfortunately, intent does not change the severity of effect — especially when the face ratio of non-black aggressors to the victims of their “joke” (who lack the luxury of finding it funny, or access to anything near as hurtful in the weapon cabinet of history with which to fight back) is 100 to one. Add a followup shitstorm of Internet commentary and gleeful side-picking, and it’s apparent why the “toxic environment” at UCSD has become so slimy.

As we can see, the danger is much larger than this motley crew of fire-starters. There may not be visible protests against the campus-diversifying demands of the Black Student Union, but a thunderous sentiment can be heard across Facebook threads and cafeteria whispers: The 20,000 students not marching in solidarity with the BSU are jumping to the defensive conclusion that black students’ demands are too dramatic, or that this is a simple issue of free speech, and all those hurt by racial comments don’t have the right to not be offended.

No, the malicious gut feeling currently permeating UCSD cannot be blamed on three isolated flareups of ignorance, but on the blank stares they have unveiled and spiteful murmurs they have uncorked. Anyone who still thinks there is no racism at this school, after witnessing the righteous reaction of the general populous to the pain of the targeted few, with no concept of the inequality from birth between races in our country, should indeed be dragged kicking and screaming into the general-education requirements the BSU has proposed.

When a cornerstone of American society like the black population, whose presence at this university means exponentially more than its sparse percentage, feels so threatened as to not be able to enter their own library, it becomes all of our problem.

Let’s prioritize here. Yes, A.S. President Utsav Gupta breached the trust of all student publications on campus — not to mention the content-neutral principles of the First Amendment — by pulling media-org funding in the name of cutting off the Koala. And believe us, he will get what’s coming to him. But it’s important to separate that issue from the social justice the BSU is requesting; they are not asking for anyone else to be silenced, and wouldn’t have that jurisdiction anyway. They are only asking for outreach and retention, so they can exist on campus with the critical strength that would give them a fighting chance to resist — or at least not feel crushed or attacked — when slurs conjuring the violent oppression of their ancestors are thrown around in the name of freedom.

With the exception of a few hundred students willing to trek out in support of the BSU at 8 a.m. — or at least become more educated on the topic — the student body has responded with apathy. The noose was in the library for two days without anybody reporting it. And in many cases, apathy has even grown fangs. How is it necessary to start a group called “UCSD Students Outraged That People Are Outraged About the Compton Cookout” or “UCSD Students Against the Demands of the UCSD BSU”? Just because someone got it together before you to demand what they deserve from the university, you don’t have to degrade one of the most necessary fights in our history — the civil-rights movement, which is not over by any means — by rattling off some uninformed babble about basing treatment on academic merits, not the color of one’s skin. If we existed in isolation of history, if we had all started in wigs with feather pens, there might be less of a need for this moment of solidarity. Just because our ancestors messed up the possibility of self-sustaining social justice doesn’t mean we’re free from the responsibility to recognize their shortcomings and do all we can to right that wrong.

Predictably, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox mostly avoided solid fiscal solutions to the BSU’s bold list of demands in her Friday-afternoon address. But if the amount of drive they have shown so far is any indication, they will not stop until every proposed task force has made at least one step toward strengthening their chances of survival on this campus. It may seem dramatic, but without the most extreme and comprehensive request to stabilize the black population on campus and educate the rest, toxic environments like this will remain possible, and extremists like the Koala will exist as a tool of marginalization instead of ridiculousness.

I know you didn’t personally limit black opportunity in this country, but when you fail to recognize there is a problem, you become a part of it. So instead of wasting your time cutting down a people who have never received anything but the short end of the stick, let’s show a little love and admiration.

[Lilyeye]

85. So a noose just happens to show up after a week of racially charged events?

Sorry, but I have a hard time buying her story.

[Nikki Stone1]

86. I know. The comments on the UCSD site are interesting:

theBman says:
March 1, 2010 at 6:57 pm
I, for one, am completely dissatisfied with this apology and explanation. There are too many holes in this story, in light of past information, for this to be legitimate. The picture of the noose circling around on news sites shows that it was deliberately hung from the light fixture, not accidentally left behind laying next to a desk. And what of the reported letter the guardian received threatening “more nooses to follow”? Was that an innocent accident too? Then we hear the girl is a minority student herself. This sounds like an attempt to fan the flames on this heated issue in favor of the BSU and its outrageous demands. Just a few days ago the police sent out a CRIME bulletin and there was talk of prosecution under federal hate crime law. Now the issue is being swept under the rug. What’s the real story here?

UCSDalum says:
March 1, 2010 at 7:01 pm
You are a complete idiot. I can’t believe you couldn’t foresee the consequences of your actions. If your actions were as innocent as you claim, surely you should be leaving our school due to some sort of prolonged academic probation. I can’t picture someone of such low intellect being able to pass any courses.

AlexUCSD says:
March 1, 2010 at 7:14 pm
How do you play with a noose for such a length of time without realizing its cultural connotations?! This is literally unbelievable.

Like the commenter above said, what about the message sent to the Guardian saying that more nooses were coming?

Sorry isn’t enough here. Not nearly enough. Your actions have caused hundreds and hundreds of people on this campus pain, fear and sleepless nights. Saying sorry doesn’t assuage that.

Jake Orlando says:
March 1, 2010 at 7:19 pm
You are an idiot. You know that what you were doing was wrong, you know that what you did would incite anger. If you can’t come forward with the truth, then you are not University material–you need to go back to elementary school and learn basic integrity and other morals.

There is a special place in hell for people who disassociate themselves in the name of innocence from outrageous behavior.

http://www.ucsdguardian.org/feature-on-slider/noose-in-geisel-was-not-intended-as-a-threat/

More at the link.

[Lilyeye]

94. Glad to see some students seeing it for what it is.

However, I do notice quite a bit saying this was done in favor of the BSU and to make the others look bad. Of course blame the folks who were the most hurt by this crap, so the scumbags will be let off the hook. :eyes:

[Name removed]

96. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Nikki Stone1]

99. AP: "a KKK-style hood was found on campus "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100303/ap_on_re_us/us_black_history_mock_party

Racist incidents, protests spread at UC campuses

By CHRISTINA HOAG, Associated Press – Tue Mar 2, 9:47 pm ET
LOS ANGELES – A firestorm over racially and ethnically charged incidents at several University of California campuses spread Tuesday as UC San Diego announced a KKK-style hood was found on campus and students in Los Angeles and Irvine demonstrated against intolerance.
"What kind of campus promotes an environment that allows people to think it's acceptable to target people for their ethnicity, gender or sexuality?" said Corey Matthews, one of about 200 mostly minority UCLA students who held a lunchtime rally. "It's something about the tone of the environment that allows this."
At UC Irvine, about 250 people gathered for a "student solidarity speakout" to condemn the recent spate of racist incidents at UC San Diego that targeted black students and another incident last month at UC Davis, which targeted a Jewish student with a swastika carved on her door, said Marya Bangee, an event organizer.
The protests came on the same day UC San Diego announced the discovery of a white pillowcase fashioned into a KKK-style hood — the third racist incident around the campus in as many weeks — and a day after UC Santa Cruz officials found an image of a noose scribbled on the inside of a bathroom door.
Officials found the hood, which bore a hand-drawn circle and cross, on a statue of children's book author Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, outside the main campus library late Monday. A rose had been inserted between the statue's fingers.
Detectives were analyzing the pillowcase for fingerprints and DNA evidence, a university statement said.
UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox vowed to punish the culprits to the fullest extent of the law. "We will not tolerate these despicable actions," she said in the statement.
The hood came on the heels two other UC San Diego incidents: a February off-campus, student-organized "Compton Cookout" party that mocked Black History Month with ghetto stereotypes; and a noose found hanging from a library bookshelf last week.
UC San Diego campus police said they had completed their investigation into the noose incident and turned their results over to the city attorney on Tuesday for possible hate crime charges.
One of the students responsible for the noose apologized to the university community in an anonymous letter published Monday in the campus newspaper. She said the noose was formed while she and friends were playing around with a piece of rope and had no meaning as a lynching symbol.
The student said she is not black, but is a minority.
The incident also is under investigation by law enforcement agencies, campus spokeswoman Judy Piercey said.
Although UCLA students said no racial incidents had occurred recently on their campus, in 2007, a fraternity held a "Tijuana Sunrise" party that mocked Mexican-Americans with stereotyped images, they said.
The incidents are disturbing and most likely the work of "outliers" using offensive and outrageous behavior to gain notoriety, said Brian Levin, director of California State University's Center for Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino.
He said surveys show young people are less prejudiced than ever, but "these things touch a nerve, and these folks know it."
UCLA demonstrators called on administrators to institute a required ethnic studies course that would teach students about other cultures.
"It would be a very strong and powerful statement for diversity," said Kent Wong, a speaker at the rally and director of UCLA's Center for Labor Research and Education.
At UC San Diego, officials were already moving to create a more tolerant environment after meeting with black student leaders, Piercey said.
Initiatives include recruiting more minority faculty, instituting a mentoring program, creating an African American Resource Center, and ensuring funding for the diversity office, Piercey said.