UCSC NAACP criticizes university response to rope on campus, calls for full investigation
SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION) The UC Santa Cruz NAACP shared a letter saying the university's response to a rope found hanging from a street sign on the edge of campus "falls short of describing what will be done to ensure tangible support and bolster resources for the Black community on campus."
University police began investigating the incident in early July. It was not classified as a crime, but police were looking for the motive behind whoever left it and said it may be a bias-related incident. UCSC police would not refer to the rope as a noose, but the UCSC NAACP refers to it as a noose.
The UCSC Police Department shared video of the incident at High Street and Coolidge on July 2 in hopes that someone could identify those involved.
The UCSC NAACP said it was appalled by how boldly people intimidate Black lives by immitating past racial violence and by institutions not communicating effectively with those who may be impacted.
In response to the incident and a vandalism incident at the Hillel Center, Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer Teresa Maria Linda Scholz and Interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Success Jennifer Baszile issued a statement. They called the actions troubling and encouraged community members to reach out for support.
"We encourage our community to reach out for support. In addition to support services offered by staff in our colleges and resource centers, Counseling and Psychological Services provides assistance for students. Santa Cruz Hillel is another source for support. For employees, the Employee Assistance Program can provide counseling and support," they said in the statement.
The UCSC NAACP said the response falls short.
"This disgusting act surpasses invalidity, and merely suggesting for folx to reach out for support is not nearly enough of an action-based reaction on behalf of the University. The response begins its closing statement with a muting, generalized call to action that serves to generalize the hanging of the noose on the UC Santa Cruz campus," the organization wrote in a statement.
The organization presented several questions for the university, including: How can impacted students be expected to reach out to the campus service center during the summer? Why are students expected to reach out for support when support should be a priority?
The UCSC NAACP said the community deserves more than eight sentences in a response letter, so it is calling for the university to conduct a full investigation into the incident and use its resources to question racist motives in Santa Cruz culture. The organization said the investigators should also notify Black and Brown leaders and organizations with updates and case details to communicate with the community.
"If a lack of accountability, transparency, and collaborative efforts from the City of Santa Cruz (as this is a City issue just as much as it is an institutional issue) remain ongoing, the City of Santa Cruz, the UC system, and our allies should move forward with a community refund on institutions that do not invest in investigatory powers for racial justice to invigorate the multi-ethnic student organizations on campus as well as Black folx within the Santa Cruz community."
The UC Santa Cruz community has experienced other reports of race-related incidents in the past. As recently as April, school officials said they received multiple reports of "racist and offensive" disruptions to classes held on Zoom. Officials said they were especially against Asians and Asian-Americans.
Read the full statement from the UCSC NAACP below.
