University of Illinois student hangs a noose in an elevator of residence hall, charged with hate crime
A 19-year-old college student of the University of Illinois has reportedly been charged with a felony hate crime after hanging a noose in an elevator of a campus residence hall. The sophomore student, identified as Andrew M. Smith of Normal, Illinois, was arraigned in court on Tuesday on felony domestic violence and misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Smith, a math major at the college, confessed to the crime and told university police he "only spent about 30 seconds thinking about his actions," Champaign County Assistant State’s Attorney Kristin Alferink told the courtroom, according to CBS 42. Reports state that no motive has yet been established for the crime.
Authorities were called to the university where staffers at Allen Hall in Urbana told them that they found the noose hanging on Sunday in a public elevator at around 1 am. Officials, after their investigation, later concluded that Smith was behind the act.
Shortly after the incident, the University Police Chief Craig Stone released a statement, saying that the campus does not "tolerate incidents that are perceived by others to be a threat to their safety." The alleged racist incident comes months after a group of black employees at the university had filed a lawsuit claiming racial harassment in the campus was "standard operating procedure" at the school, the Daily Illini campus newspaper stated.
The employees, in their complaint, had stated that the university staff members called them "n*gger," "monkey," "lazy," and "Aunt Jemima." The plaintiffs also stated that black employees were also "exposed to threats of racial violence, such as nooses, swastikas, KKK garb, racist graffiti, and confederate flags."
In the suit, the school's Office for Access and Equity was also accused of being "rife with internal racial harassment."
Attorney Jesse Centrella, on their client's behalf, said: "Any hope that the University has to stamp out discrimination on their campus is hamstrung by the fact that the unit they have tasked with enforcing that discrimination law is itself saturated with racism."
Smith's defense attorney, Audrey Thompson, declined to comment on her client's alleged actions during arraignment proceedings. However, she said that her client, who has a 3.79 GPA, had earned enough credits to graduate as a sophomore this year.