The rope was found Thursday at a construction site in an off-campus building.
A rope was found Thursday at a construction site in an off-campus building owned by Johns Hopkins University, according to Karen Lancaster, a spokeswoman for Johns Hopkins University. Lancaster said the construction site is part of the ongoing renovations of the Whiting School of Engineering building in Baltimore. She called it an “egregious symbol of hatred”.
The job site has been closed until further notice, said Daniel Ennis, senior vice president of administration and finance at Johns Hopkins University.
“Johns Hopkins University condemns this act of hatred,” said university president Ronald J. Daniels in a message Friday to the university community. “We consider such racist images to be horrible and disgusting, and a direct threat to the black community at Johns Hopkins and Baltimore, which are contrary to the values of fairness, justice and humanity to which we are firmly committed.”
Johns Hopkins referred the possible hate crime to federal authorities and launched his own investigation, led by the Office of Institutional Equity. University officials are coordinating their actions with Plano-Coudon, the contractor who notified the university of the tie and has offered its full cooperation and support.
“We take this matter extremely seriously,” said Ennis. “We have closed this job site until further notice and will do everything in our power to ensure that our community is free from hatred and intimidation. Acts like this have no place in our society. We encourage anyone with information about this incident to contact Campus Security and Security at 410-516-4600. ”
“We know that incidents like this, wherever they occur, can cause or reinforce trauma for members of our community, especially our black and brown colleagues, students, and professors,” said Katrina Caldwell, vice president of Johns Hopkins University. . inclusion and diversity director. “That this happened at a time when there has been so much pain from racially motivated violence means that we must stand up and offer the support that our community needs now and that we must become better and more informed allies in the urgent work that needs to be done. to fight racism in all its forms. ”
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