(November 13, 2008)--A Baylor student who admitted responsibility for hanging a rope with a loop in a tree that was believed to have been a noose has told officials the rope was intended to be a swing, the university said Thursday. The incident may have helped spark an angry verbal confrontation between black and white students on election night.
The student, who was not identified, met with Baylor police Wednesday, according to a statement that Interim Baylor President David Garland sent to students, faculty and staff on Thursday.
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“The student explained that he had been spending time with a group of friends on Fountain Mall the evening before the election and had discovered a rope he believed to have been from one of the tents used during the university’s homecoming activities,” Garland said.
“The students thought they could use the rope to create a rope swing. The students tied one end of the rope to a limb of the tree and tied the other end in a loop from which they attempted to swing. Later they abandoned the swing.
“The students strongly deny that the rope was intended to mimic a noose or to convey a message of any sort,” Garland said.
Male and female students who were involved in the incident have met with student leaders who are planning a unity march scheduled for 9 a.m. Friday, Garland said.
“I’m told that student leaders expressed appreciation for their courage in coming forward and understood the incident as an unfortunate misunderstanding,” Garland said.
Garland said police have identified and spoken to “a number of students” who were involved in the verbal altercation on election night outside Penland Hall.
Baylor police earlier determined that what some students claimed were Obama-Biden campaign posters found burning in a barbecue pit near a campus housing complex were actually computer boxes.
“While we are all eager to move beyond the events of the past 10 days and the negative light they have cast over our campus, this experience also calls our attention to the challenges that remain before us,” Garland said.
“Relentless pursuit of campus unity is a work to which we must continue to commit ourselves if we are to truly embody our unique calling as a Christian university in the Baptist tradition,” he said.
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