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Noose left in ACU student leader's office
'This is not who we are,' says Money of apparent racist action
Tarleton State incident
Abilene Christian University isn't the only Big Country university that has had to deal with a racially charged issue.
In January 2007, Tarleton State University was caught up in a national controversy when a group of TSU students attended a Martin Luther King Jr. party that many found to be racially offensive.
Photographs of partygoers, which were posted on Internet sites, revealed some fraternity members and others drinking malt liquor from bottles wrapped in brown paper bags, eating fried chicken and dressed in seeming gang apparel.
Reporter-News Photo by Ronald W. Erdrich Abilene Christian University President Royce Money speaks to students Friday during chapel about the recent discovery of a noose in the office chair of ACU Student Congress President Daniel Paul Watkins.
Courtesy Photo. A photo of the noose in the chair of Abilene Christian University Student Congress President Daniel Paul Watkins.
More Local News A noose left Wednesday in the office of Abilene Christian University's student congress president -- a black student -- has prompted a campus investigation.
ACU President Dr. Royce Money condemned the act during campuswide chapel Friday, and students echoed his comments afterward.
While Student Congress President Daniel Paul Watkins, a political science major and senior from Fredricksberg, Va., could not be reached for comment, Money said the university cannot and will not condone such behavior.
"This is not who we are," Money said after addressing students in Moody Coliseum. "We're standing as one community against things like this. The single thing that bothers me the most is ... their bad behavior cast the reputation of the university in jeopardy."
Money said Jean-Noel Thompson, vice president and dean of student life, will "handle any disciplinary action that will come out of this incident. We obviously consider this a serious matter."
Campus police are investigating the incident. Money would not comment on any details surrounding the incident, saying only that the investigation is "ongoing."
A noose to many people -- in particular, black Americans -- is a racist symbol that evokes memories of a time when African-Americans were lynched.
Money opened chapel Friday by telling students that he had a "serious matter" that he needed to discuss and then called it an "outrageous act, which flies in the face of everything this university stands for." He condemned the placement of the noose in Watkins' office with "the strongest language possible."
"At a time like this, I would urge all of us to remember who we are as a Christian community where there is no room for hatred or prejudice of any kind toward anyone," Money said.
ACU students contacted after Friday's chapel agreed.
"I feel like we as Christians should follow Christ and what he stands for," said Ean Wagner, a 22-year-old senior from Arlington and a member of ACU's men's basketball team. "I'm a little upset, but we've got to forgive them."
Wagner said that students and others should "pray about it" and that the act is not indicative of ACU -- at all.
Dallas Arnold, a 19-year-old sophomore from Huntsville, called the incident "appalling, especially in this modern day and time."
"It's horrible that a fellow Christian student could do such a bad thing to a great guy, a great leader," Arnold said. "I've never heard of anything like this happening (at ACU). I feel bad it happened."
Arnold said he hopes that the individual or people responsible are caught and face appropriate disciplinary action.
"It's rude," said Victoria Shipman, a 20-year-old ACU student from Abilene. "It really surprised me. ... It's a shock."
Shipman said she believes ACU is doing a "good job trying to figure out who it is."
If the placement of the noose was a prank, Shipman said, then the person responsible "should be explained to, 'This is not funny.'" Shipman said additional action should be taken if it turns out whoever responsible meant it as more than a prank.
Money said he hopes to make a "teachable moment ... out of a tragic incident," to not sweep this under the rug and to "get it out and deal with it honestly and openly."
"We tell the truth, we face the facts, we learn what we can, and we move on and keep going," he said.
Addressing students Friday, Money said he was impressed with Watkins and the way the student president has handled the situation.
"He (Watkins) could have chosen to react in any number of ways which are perfectly understandable under the circumstances," Money said. "He said, 'I am making a choice of how I react to this trial. I must love my neighbor even when they don't love me.' This attitude is a testament to his character in that he is so conscientious in his reaction."
Money said minority enrollment at ACU is about 20 percent -- with blacks making up about 12 or 13 percent of the student body. He said the percentage of blacks on ACU's campus has doubled over the past decade. ACU's total enrollment is about 4,700 students.
According to Money, ACU has made significant steps in race relations over past decades but the lesson Friday was "how far we have yet to go."
In 1999, ACU held its first "One in Christ" Conference in which black and white leaders in Churches of Christ came together to discuss racial reconciliation.
As the conference concluded, Money and Don Crisp, chair of the board of trustees, publicly apologized for the school's failure as a Christian college -- in the early 1960s -- to lead the way in denouncing racism, upholding integration and exemplifying the truth of the Gospel.
"This is not the end of the conversation, but one that we want to be ongoing and constructive," Money said Friday. "This incident is a symbolic reminder of the work that remains to be done among redeemed but sinful people. Surely this experience lies at the heart of what it means to work out our faith, even in the midst of adversity."
Money said he wished he could "fix up this situation and spray perfume on it and make it sound good, but I can't."
"I am angered that anyone in our community would treat anyone else in this despicable manner," Money said. "If it is possible to have pity and anger simultaneously, I have it, as do those in the ACU community. To that person, I would encourage first and foremost repentance and the asking of forgiveness. Having one person in our midst who has a mind to do such a thing is having one too many."
Posted by squib_kick on September 6, 2008 at 2:32 a.m. (Suggest removal)
THis is an OUTRAGE! THey can say, "This is not who we are..." But at the end of the day, I wonder how many people at ACU really feel this way; How many have images of nooses in their head? If one person went this far, there is no telling the type of tension that may exist at this school. I would like to see 60% minority enrollment at ACU. THis is going too far!
Posted by hardtohandle69 on September 6, 2008 at 5:38 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ahhh well. The schools known to be racist. Maybe they'll shut it down.
Posted by squid on September 6, 2008 at 7:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)
fellow Campbellighters, this squibkick guy appears to be on to us. Lets go ahead and implement our emergency contingency plans now. Everyone put your nooses away for a couple of weeks. Oh, and the Hitler-Youth Drill Team marching practice is cancelled for tonight....
Posted by conserveABI on September 6, 2008 at 8:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Squib, you're wrong. This is an isolated event; one person hurting another, not an uprising.
Posted by sdplm on September 6, 2008 at 9:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I have lived in Abilene for a long time. It has always been easy for people to pick at or on Abilene Christian University. I am sure that part of that is based on the name if for no other reason.
They don't call themselves Abilene CHRISTIAN University for nothing. Yes, sin is found on the campus just as it is on our other local campuses.
I am truly sorry that this incident happened and I know that ACU will do every thing possible to resolve the issue or issues.
Seems to me that those who want to hurl insults at ACU might be as guilty in what they do as the person or persons who committed this disrespectful act.
Big sins, little sins, they are all sins. None of us can face God without His Grace.
Posted by dr__dawggy on September 6, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I could be wrong but I think Squib is just trolling ...the reward is to get a rise out of ACU defenders. If he is serious he is very much in need of mental health services.
Posted by squib_kick on September 6, 2008 at 9:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I know everyone hears the jeers, and slurs people make in Abilene(or anywhere) behind the scenes against minorities, particularly now in the age of the first true African-American presidential candidate. It seems like ACU really sincerely cares, and states they have made strides on this matter.
But it seems like nowdays, the only race they care about is winning track races with the legs of their recruits from Africa.
Posted by krprilliman on September 6, 2008 at 10:50 a.m. (Suggest removal)
dr--dawggy, not very Christian of you to be throwing stones at squib. ;-)
What a town full of judgmental oddities!!!
Posted by Umigame on September 6, 2008 at 10:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There is racism everywhere, and there will always be racism in some degree, african americans are just as guilty of racism as any other race, wether you be white, mexican, caucasian, indian, eskimoe what ever theres going to be racism, but you can not say for a second that equal rights has not come miles and miles from what it was just 40 years ago! We as a people, as a nation, as a species are evolving everday, and I can almost GUARANTEE you this was a prank by some stupid stupid person, who knows if it was even a student? It's not hard at all to stroll along the campus if your not a student trust me! Either way in my opinion the university shouldn't be held responsible. For petes sake Chapel is a REQUIRED COURSE if that doesn't scream christian values what does!?
Posted by robertwp on September 6, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"For petes sake Chapel is a REQUIRED COURSE if that doesn't scream christian values what does!?"
Chapel isn't a course. It is a required activity. It has to do with the rules of the school. It has nothing to do with Christian values. Jesus never forced anybody to submit to worship. The biggest Christian value of all is choice.
Posted by ebtry on September 6, 2008 at 5:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Okay this is sure to get some people going but just speaking what's on my mind.
Perhaps the investigation should also be conducted in a manner to determine whether or not the noose was left in the chair by its occupant in an attempt for personal gain.
Not making accusations but racism goes both ways.
Posted by john_t_s on September 6, 2008 at 5:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ebtry,
How can you even suggest such a thing. No one would ever think of that, do that, or has ever done that. You must be the biggest racist bigot in the entire world. The only person who could have ever conceived of doing anything like this would have to be at least a third generation member of the KKK.
Posted by robertwp on September 6, 2008 at 5:22 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ebtry,
The only thing I can say about you is that you are consistent.
“Okay this is sure to get some people going but just speaking what's on my mind.”
Translation: Watch out folks, here comes something really, really, really stupid!
Posted by john_t_s on September 6, 2008 at 6:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Perhaps everyone who reads this and is tempted to post on here should be warned. robertwp, who posts on here relentlessly, in a genius who had an IQ of 256 and was the source of all knowledge on any issues related to Taylor County, Abilene, and ACU. Do not post on here unless you wish to be exposed by him for the idiot and scumbag that you probably are. Beware, he knows everything.
His ancestors founded ACC. They have given tens of millions of dollars to the school over several decades. All of his family members (including his illegitimate children) have graduated from ACC/ACU. All of them were valedictorians, All-American athletes, Mr. or Miss ACC/ACU, Most Beautiful or Most Handsome, Class Favorites, and student body presidents, to only name a few of their numerous accolades. All of them won every award and honor that the school bestows on its students. He has also been named Alumnus of the Year on five occasions.
He represented the USA in the Olympic Games on four separate occasions, winning seven gold medals.
Robert graduated with a quadruple major with a 4.5 GPA. He is a CPA, an engineer, a lawyer, and a medical doctor. He simultaneously successfully practiced all of these professions while serving as a full time professor at ACU. He declined on several occasions to serve as ACU President.
He was the Mayor of Abilene, President of the School Board of AISD, Taylor County Judge, and President of the Taylor County Medical Society. He also is the all-time champion roper, steer wrestler, and cutting horse rider in West Texas.
He knows evereything that there is to know about ACU and about everyone who has ever attended the school and/or served on its faculty or staff. If you don't believe me, ask him.
There is a somewhat sad turn to Robert's life story. In 1997, Robert was in a horrific automobile accident and was reduced to a permanent near-vegetative state. However, he has continued to excel even in this regretable condition. Six times he has been chosen by the staff as Patient of the Year at Abilene State School. As a reward for his excellent behavior, Robert is allowed to have his own computer and unlimited internet access. He has lost all of his capacity for logical thinking but he keeps on writing and posting on the internet. Atta boy Robert, Atta boy.
Posted by ebtry on September 6, 2008 at 9:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Don't say that nobody has never created a scene to suggest a racist incident occurred in an attempt to promote their own agenda. It's done all the time.
I made it clear there were no accusations. However any legit law enforcement agency in the world would investigate all angles regarding this matter.
Calling me a racist is pretty dumb, just goes to show your ignorance.
And Robert? Gee dude, given the tone of your 1735 posts on this system, don't you think it's time you get a real life????
Posted by robertwp on September 6, 2008 at 10:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I operate the keyboard with a switch connected to my right eyelid. I use morse code to type the letters.
Thanks for the kind tribute.
Posted by robertwp on September 6, 2008 at 11:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
In all honesty, I am just filling the 12 hours per week that I no longer spend on the golf course.
This is a hell of a lot more fun and I p*ss off more Republicans in the process than I ever did with my clubs.
Posted by krprilliman on September 6, 2008 at 11:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think that john_t_s has WAY too much time on his poor lonely hands, what about y'all?
Posted by fromme2u on September 7, 2008 at 1:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Very enjoyable john_t_s!
Posted by wild_bill on September 7, 2008 at 4:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Come on people! One childish imitation hangman's noose does not a Klan rally make. Even if it WAS meant as a terroristic threat, how can anyone take this seriously? As far as that goes, why have blacks co-opted the hangman's noose as a symbol of racial oppression? They have already made the Confederate battle flag and the singing/ whistling/ playing of "Dixie" into a so-called symbols of racial oppression, now they will take on a hemp rope loop too? Ridiculous.
I bet, if there were any accurate statistics, that more white folks have swung from the end of the rope than black people. Same for electrocution, poison gas, guilletine , headman's axe, firing squad, etc. Undoubtedly there were black people illegally lynched by racists. Does that make a lasso a symbol of racial oppression?
Here's another thought. It applies mainly to those folks who believe Creationism/Intelligent Design are the absolute truth and that the theory of Evolution is wrong. God made all the races; they didn't evolve to be different; they were consciously made by Him in His own image (the Bible says so). Therefore God intended racism to be part of the human model and racism/bigotry are part of God's plan. Or perhaps not.
Posted by HoursAway on September 7, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. (Suggest removal)
So John t s, when did they get wifi in Big Spring?
Posted by dalai-llama on September 8, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Bill, blacks are not the ones who made those things into symbols of hatred and racial violence. Confederate slaveowners and their racist apologists did that all on their own. Today's white power groups are carrying on a proud tradition that is hundreds of years old, using symbolism that was well established long before blacks had the social standing to co-opt anything.
I don't know how many whites have hung from the noose. Given the ratio of whites to blacks and the prevalence of hanging as the preferred method of capital punishment, I would not be at all surprised if vastly more whites than blacks were hanged.
The difference is that whites were hanged for what they did, not for who they were.
Posted by robertwp on September 8, 2008 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It doesn’t matter who did this, the fact is that it was done and it has set ACU's attempts to make the student body more racially diverse back quite a bit. On the plus side, it looks like the major news carriers were too busy with Sarah Palin to carry this story on a national level. ACU dodged a bullet with that one.
I do hope that this story can be monitored on a local level so that we can have some closure on this awful incident. I hope this doesn't get swept under the carpet like so many other things that have happened on the hill.
Posted by wild_bill on September 8, 2008 at 4:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dalai, I am white so I guess maybe that's why I don't see a noose as a symbol of hatred, racial violence, terrorist threat or anything else other than a cheap, efficient and reusable means of capital punishment.
What was shown was just a parody of a hangman's noose anyway. I find it difficult to take it, and the alleged "threat", seriously and I am surprised that anyone else does either.
robertwp, you are making this out to be way more important than it deserves.
Posted by robertwp on September 8, 2008 at 7:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Bill,
I happen to think that you don't realize how serious a crime this is.
In Jena, LA, a Federal Prosecutor defined the hanging of a noose as a hate crime. If the kids who did it were the age of a college student then their punishment could have been quite severe.
Posted by Chili4me on September 8, 2008 at 8:29 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think it was a prank as well, even if it was in bad taste. Fraternities are probably pledging now (assuming ACU has them). That noose, however understandably insulting is no way a credible threat. It also is not a crime, local, state or federal. I agree with expulsion, there isn't much if any legal action that can be taken and the DA probably would pursue it. It is irrelevant if a prosecutor tried to define a hanging noose as a hate crime, a prosecutor does not make rulings. That is like me defining candy as one of the five major food groups.
Posted by robertwp on September 8, 2008 at 8:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It isn't the noose that makes it a hate crime. A noose is a noose. In Jena it was hung in a tree where blacks understood an unspoken prohibition of their presence. They decided to congregate there and someone hung a noose. In that case it wasn't just a knot of rope. It was meant to intimidate. It is the context. I think that the fact that ACU is predominantly white, the SA president is black (the first?) and that the noose was accompanied by the written slurs would justify the perpetrator(s) being accused of a hate crime.
A candied apple is still fruit.
Posted by dalai-llama on September 8, 2008 at 11:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"What was shown was just a parody of a hangman's noose anyway. "
Full agreement on that.
Note to white supremacists:
Don't sully some good hatemongering by letting your wall-eyed little inbred brother make the noose out of momma's old clothesline. Have some dignity.
Posted by twestka on September 9, 2008 at 4:42 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I raised in Church of Christ, I want to make it clear followers of christ have love in their heart not hate. Jesus last night with his disciples said "I am giving you a new commandment to love one another." Why pick a christian school if you have hate in your heart? I don't know if it was a prank but it is horrible!
Posted by wild_bill on September 9, 2008 at 6:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dalai my point was any "good hatemongering" person could have done a better job. Without ANY racial implications, I would imagine any Boy Scout could do a better job than what was shown in the photo. To me that argues that whoever did this was probalby NOT a "hatemonger", a member of the KKK or possibly even a racist. Most folks who feel THAT strongly would have done a better job in the first place.
robertwp, you are right. I DO NOT think it was a crime, hate or not. I DO NOT believe the noose at Jena was a hate crime regardless of what some eager prosecutor declaims. Do you consider flying the Confederate battle flag a "hate crime"? How about whistling "Dixie"? If they had hung a sign that said "No Blacks", or "No N*****s" would THAT be a hate crime to you or a simply a juvenile sign of intolerance? Just because someone finds something offensive does NOT make it a racist hate crime. A person can self-define it as such; legislatures could even write a law to make such a presentation a "hate crime"; just like they could make faux-drowning "torture" but that just doesn't make it so.
The basic concept of "hate crime" is that doing something to one member of society is somehow more horrible, heinious, just plain WORSE than doing the same thing to someone who is not a member of that gender,race, ethnicity, group, etc. That, to me, is demeaning to the group in question just like "quotas" are. It's a way of saying "you aren't good enough, strong enough, smart enough" or whatever to do "_______" without help the general populance doesn't need/get. "We need to make special rules to prop you up so you can pretend you are as good as anyone else". The concept is despicible to me.
I hope they catch the idiot who did it, just so we can get their version of "why" they did what they did. It could well be the person is a racist, full of hatred for black people, who singled out Mr Watkins. I just don't think that will be the case.
Posted by PlainJane26 on September 12, 2008 at 10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And no robertwp, he was NOT the first African American SA president at ACU. I know there was at least one in my time there and that was less than 10 years ago.
Posted by robertwp on September 17, 2008 at 8:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)
ACU has successfully swept this under the carpet. The noose depositor obviously turned out to be someone with ACU clout and so we will never hear about this story again.
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