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ANALYSIS: Noose was reported hanging on April 1, a month after reportedly put up
Stanford University officials do not appear to have made progress on identifying a noose reportedly put up on campus.
Campus police reported “terrorism involving a hanging noose and noncriminal hate violence between 8:00 a.m. on March 3 and 3:30 p.m. on April 1” at the Old Union, according to the Stanford Daily.
The wording suggests the noose could have been hanging for a month before anyone bothered to report it.
Officials would not directly answer questions from The College Fix about the evidentiary criteria behind the terrorism classification, whether any suspects were identified, or if student conduct sanctions are underway.
Luisa Rapport, director of media relations at Stanford University, stated via email: “The investigation into the incident referenced remains open.”
“We encourage anyone with information to contact Stanford’s Department of Public Safety,” Rapport wrote.
The media relations division of the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office did not respond to multiple email inquiries nor phone calls in the past several weeks asking if campus police referred a case file for criminal prosecution or if state charges were under review.
Legal scholars note that standard statutory thresholds for terrorism generally do not align with noncriminal police log entries.
Eugene Volokh, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, provided legal analysis on state statutory thresholds in an email to The Fix.
“Nooses might be seen as punishable threats under state law, see Cal. Penal Code sec. 422,” Volokh said. “I don’t think they’d be labeled ‘terrorism’ under state law, but it’s possible that the police report is using a looser definition.”
The statute referred to makes it a crime to threaten “to commit a crime which will results in death or great bodily injury,” according to legal website Justia.
This is not the first time someone reported a noose on campus, though they often appear to be innocuous.
In 2019, a noose found on campus appears to have been a rope used to hang ornaments, according to witnesses. The rope had apparently been there for months, according to archived photos and an investigation by Stanford officials.
A student also reported finding a noose on campus in 2021, though it appeared to have been from a ladder.
The Fix previously reported:
Stanford’s Department of Public Safety worked together with the campus arborist and determined the cords had “likely been hanging for 18 to 24 months.” But [administrators] noted that while the cords might have been part of “abandoned swing or rope ladder,” they could not be certain “whether the ropes were deliberately fashioned in the shape of nooses.”
As such, the officials condemned the potential nooses, noting they are “a potent symbol of anti-Black racism and violence that is completely unacceptable under any circumstances.”
Someone found a rope on a tree the following year, prompting President Marc Tessier-Lavigne to urge a criminal investigation, as The Fix reported.
“A noose is a hateful representation of anti-Black racism and violence,” he stated at the time. “It is deeply disturbing that someone would choose to inflict this repugnant symbol on our community.”
A student also used the probable hoax as an opportunity to rant against “whiteness.”
Unrelated to the noose found this year, the campus police said this summer that a jogger fabricated a sexual assault claim in March.
MORE: Princeton ignores requests for noose investigation update
