(NAME-MCE) Mortified, Reed takes down noosed dummies from trees

[Anselmo Villanueva]

Reed College officials last week removed several dummies hanging from
nooses on trees on campus, The Oregonian reported. The dummies were
part of a student government financed Halloween display, and students
said that they didn't realize the racial overtones represented by the
dummies.

Complete story below.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregonian/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1193972160124260.xml&coll=7

Mortified, Reed takes down noosed dummies from trees
Sensitivity - The display's "racist overtones" were unintended, a
student leader says in an apologetic e-mail

November 2, 2007

TOM HALLMAN JR.
The Oregonian Staff  Portland OR

A student leader at Reed College apologized Thursday for a Halloween
display -- dummies hanging from nooses in trees -- that had racial
overtones not foreseen when the display was approved and partly paid
for by the student senate.

The dummies, which were supposed to represent ghosts, were spotted by
the school's president when he arrived for work Wednesday morning,
said Mitchell Hartman, Reed's director of communications.

"He immediately sensed the potential problems," Hartman said. "He had
college staff take them down."

Hartman said the dummies -- figures with paper-bag heads -- were hung
in cherry blossom trees in Eliot Circle sometime Tuesday night as part
of a Halloween display.
"They were down by 9 a.m. Wednesday," he said.

On Thursday, Devin Bambrick, the student body vice president, sent out
an apologetic e-mail to Reed students.

"While the installations on campus were meant to be a scary Halloween
display, the particularly racist overtones of the display were not
intended," he wrote. "Upon recognizing the implications of the
display, the dummies were immediately taken down and the nooses
removed."

Bambrick said the event was presented to the senate as a "larger,
multifaceted project, and we did not foresee its implications. We
specifically did not fund the rope aspect of the project, but should
have taken further steps to moderate the content of the display and
ensure that this situation be avoided."

Tom Hallman Jr.: 503 221-8224; tomhallman at news.oregonian.com