Austin Peay State University, in Clarksville, Tennessee, is currently investigating a truly alarming disturbance on campus.
According to WKRN, on Monday, several students complained to the university about the appearance of nooses near the fine arts building. As if the presence of nooses isn’t creepy enough, each one was a different color and ultimately created the colors of the rainbow.
As reported by the Daily Beast, Tennessee lawmakers had recently been focusing on a “bathroom bill” that targets transgender students. On Monday, this bill was pushed out and left to be debated next year, but it made sense that some may have connected this disturbing display to the bill.
The nooses were immediately removed by campus police “out of concern of hate symbolism and it’s potential impact to the campus,” as stated by campus officials.
The university’s president, Alisa White, was quoted by WKRN, saying “this incident is deeply disturbing and is hurtful to our University community.” She continued by explaining that “Regardless of the intent, the display has no place on our campus. I am saddened, and I am sorry for the hurt and offense this has caused and want our students, faculty, and staff to know that it will not be tolerated.”
On Tuesday, the university discovered that the nooses were part of a student art project, WKRN reports. The student apparently said there was “no intent for any statement regarding or representation of LGBQT or racially-related social issues.” Well, sorry if that’s hard to believe. For all art students—Unless you want to have to do some serious explaining when your art project becomes national news, maybe try not hanging anything that could be interpreted as a noose anywhere around campus.