Following an art display depicting six rainbow-colored nooses that APSU President Alisa White called “disturbing,” junior communication major Reuben Harris led a group of students to the Morgan University Center to voice their displeasure on Tuesday, April 19.
Harris said these nooses were an issue because they did not have signage to explain what the display was trying to accomplish.
“Usually when we have awareness projects going on on campus they have signage like the clothesline project or the Send Silence Packing project we had a few weeks ago,” Harris said before walking with the group of students to Student Affairs. “There was no explanation as to what the person meant by putting up the nooses.”
Harris said the nooses also could have hurt students dealing with suicidal thoughts because they could have acted as a trigger.
“A person who might have been having suicidal thoughts or might be suffering from depression right now, they might walk past [the nooses] and it might be a trigger for them,” Harris said.
Harris’s walk never made it to the Student Affairs office and his concerns were fielded by Chief Diversity Officer David Davenport.
Davenport encouraged Harris and the students who came along with the senior to attend the forum at 1 p.m. in the MUC Ballroom so all their questions could be fielded at once.
This is an ongoing story and will be updated accordingly.