Shocker: 'Minority' Student Confesses to Hanging Noose at UCSD

Hmmm. This all sounds so familiar. A noose shows up on a college campus, outrage ensues, pandering politicians jump the gun and decry intolerant acts of alleged racism and then, well, it all turns out to be a hoax.

The UC San Diego student reportedly responsible for hanging a noose last week in a campus library issued a public, but anonymous, apology Monday and said she had no racist motivation.

The noose's discovery set off protests at a school that is already tense from recent racially charged episodes and triggered condemnations from UC leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In a letter published Monday on the front page of the UC San Diego student newspaper, the Guardian, the student wrote that the incident was "a mindless act and stupid mistake" and was not meant to recall the lynching of blacks.

"As a minority student who sympathizes with the students that have been affected by the recent issues on campus, I am distraught to know that I have unintentionally added to their pain," the student wrote. She was suspended Friday and remains under investigation for a possible hate crime.

The letter is signed "Anonymous UCSD Student" and offers no clues about her identity or ethnicity.

Sari Thayer, the Guardian's Web editor, said in an interview that the woman had asked the paper to publish the letter and that "a reliable source" confirmed its authenticity.

The woman wrote that she and friends had been playing with the rope early last week, making a lasso and then a noose.

She said that she took it to the library Tuesday, strung it above a desk and forgot about it. Its discovery Thursday night caused a firestorm on campus, where tensions were high after a Feb. 15 off-campus party that mocked Black History Month.

Whoops. Never mind. Cancel those sensitivity classes.

Naturally, some other highly suspicious incidents of "racism" immediately popped up elsewhere.

Officials at the University of California, Santa Cruz say they found the image of a noose scribbled on the inside of a bathroom door.
The graffiti was discovered Monday in the school's Earth and Marine Sciences building. School spokesman Jim Burns says the words "San Diego" and "lynch" were written on either side of it.

The graffiti follows a string of racially charged incidents at the University of California, San Diego. A noose was found dangling from a light fixture of a campus library last Thursday.

Meanwhile, at the very white Cal-Berkeley the forces of tolerance held a "Blackout" in protest yesterday. I wonder if they feel really stupid today?

Amazingly, nobody had yet blamed Tea Party activists as far as we can tell.