WACO, Texas (ABP) — According to Baylor University officials, continuing investigations into three Election Day incidents on campus revealed two apparently were not racially motivated as originally suspected.
In a Nov. 13 letter to students, faculty and staff, Baylor Interim President David Garland offered updates on investigations into the incidents. They included the appearance of a looped rope, originally thought to be a noose, hanging from a campus tree; a racially-charged disturbance outside a men’s dormitory; and the alleged burning of Obama/Biden campaign signs in a campus barbecue pit.
Garland announced a student came forward Nov. 12 to claim responsibility for the hanging of the rope and to explain its origin.
“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 during the university’s homecoming activities. The students thought they could use the rope to create a rope swing,” Garland said.
“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 denied that the rope was intended to mimic a noose or to convey a message of any sort.”
Garland reported “a diverse group of male and female students” who had been involved in creating the rope swing met Nov. 12 with student leaders who were planning a Nov. 14 unity march on campus.
“They conveyed their story, and I’m told that student leaders expressed appreciation for their courage in coming forward and understood the incident as an unfortunate misunderstanding,” he said.,
Garland also reported Baylor police had identified and spoken with a number of students who participated in a post-election disturbance outside Penland Hall. Officials were expected to make referrals to Baylor’s judicial-affairs department.
He also reported students met with Baylor police regarding the fire outside Brooks Flats. They described the source of the fire in the barbecue pits as computer boxes they found outside a parking garage — not political campaign signs, Garland said.
“While we are all eager to move beyond the events of [recent] 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 noted several positive initiatives — launching the university’s bias-motivated incident support team, prayer meetings for unity on campus, event-planning by leaders of student government and multicultural organizations, and ongoing dialogue involving diverse groups of students, faculty and staff.
“Faculty, staff and students have spoken out, decrying racism of any form on campus. All this good work must continue,” Garland said.
-30-
Read more:
Baylor reports race-related incidents on Election Day (11/5)