The Flaw in This Racial Hoax: She Spelled One Name Right — Her Own

Another racial hoax on campus surfaced this week, this one at University of Wisconsin-Parkside.  WTMJ reported on Feb 2^nd that a noose had been found in a residence hall on the previous afternoon, then threatening notes had been sent to the person who reported the initial incident the next morning, along with other African American students.

The university moved swiftly, with investigations and meetings involving UW-Parkside police, campus public safety officers, the “office of diversity and inclusion,” and the dean of students.  The university claimed that “the individual who reported the first incident is cared for,” and administrators held meetings with 30 students “to hear their concerns.”

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Then came this story two days later.  A student confessed that she made up the threatening letters, although she says she had nothing to do with the original rubber-band noose.  She carried out the hoax, she claimed, because the original threat, the noose, wasn’t taken seriously enough.  (It isn’t fully clear that the string of rubber-bands did, in fact, signify a noose.)  She has been removed from campus and is facing charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer.  She sent one threatening note to herself, and one reason she was suspected by the police was that her name was the only name spelled correctly on the “hit list.”

UW-Parkside Interim dean of Students says that “the school is re-evaluating how it handles racist incidents in the future.”  One wonders what this means.  {snip}