A few weeks ago, the University of Michigan Hospital launched an investigation after a supposed noose was found on an employee’s desk. Now the investigation has concluded after finding that it wasn’t a noose at all.
Is anyone surprised?
The university’s Division of Public Safety and Security released this statement:
DPSS statement on investigation of possible hate crime at Michigan MedicineFollowing an extensive investigation, the University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security (DPSS) has concluded that the rope resembling a noose found at University Hospital was not the result of a hate crime.On June 20, 2019, DPSS received a report that a Michigan Medicine employee found a spool of rope with a knot in it resembling a noose sitting on a shared workspace in University Hospital.Based on multiple witness interviews and other evidence, DPSS does not believe that the incident involving the rope was a hate crime. If relevant new information comes forward, the case will be reopened.During the investigation, it was learned that a spool of rope utilized for medical procedures was being used by a person on a break to practice tying a “Uni Knot,” which is a type of knot used for fishing. When the spool was returned to the storage area, the knot was still in place and discovered the following day by an employee.
So it was a Uni Knot. Those are apparently a common sight among fishing enthusiasts:
When this story first broke, as usual, it was reported with a sense of panic by many media outlets.
From the New American:
Hospital HysteriaMichiganLive.com opened its breathless report on the medical-school hate hoax in Ann Arbor this way:“University of Michigan police are investigating a possible racially motivated threat against two Michigan Medicine employees who found a noose left in their work area Thursday, June 20,” the website reported.Thus did the dean, Dr. Marschall Runge, spring into action: “Yesterday, in one of our hospitals, a noose — a symbol of hate and discrimination — was found at the work station of two of our employees,” he warned. “We have taken immediate action to have this investigated as both an act of discrimination and a criminal act of ethnic intimidation.”Ethnic intimidation in Ann Arbor, Michigan? In 2019?Intoned Runge, “this act of hate violates all of the values that we hold dear and will not be tolerated.”
WDIV News in Detroit noted that students were “disturbed” by the situation:
Well, everyone can rest easy now.
It was just another campus panic over nothing.
Featured image via YouTube.
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