Racial Incident Leads to Dialogue at U-Md.

"If it was at any other location on campus and the Jena Six wasn't going on, I think people would think it's just a rope that someone was trying to hang on," said Wilson, editor of the Black Explosion. "But point-blank, it's a noose and it was placed right in front of the cultural center, and I think it was because of the Jena Six."

Tiffany Smiling, 19, a junior from New Jersey majoring in public and community health, said she was initially frightened by the noose but then "gained strength."

"At first, concerns about my safety came to the forefront because I was thinking not only do I have to worry about walking on campus at night as a female . . . also, as an African American, there's this ignorant mentality out there that might try to target me," she said. "Then I decided I can't let anyone impose their ignorance on me. I switched my thinking to make the incident empower me. I decided not to be frightened by ignorance."

University officials said that hate crimes are reported sporadically on the campus but that no other incidents have been reported since school started. The most memorable incident, Dillon said, occurred in 1999 when death threats with racial epithets were mailed to black organizations on campus. The culprits were never identified, Dillon said.

Smiling believes the noose, which recalls the terror that racists wreaked on African Americans before the civil rights movement, was hung to intimidate.

"This was an intentional statement by someone who is threatened and because of that, trying to instill fear in African American students on campus," she said.

At Tuesday night's rally, students wore T-shirts with pictures of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X and slogans such as "Reject Hate."

Members of the Asian American Students Union passed out buttons that read, "Terps as One." An antiwar group carried signs that read: "Say NO to racism."

President C.D. Mote Jr. told students that the university owes each student the opportunity to pursue goals without intimidation.

Stephanie Brown, director of the NAACP National Youth and College Division, challenged the students to agitate for change.

"Let's talk about the noose, " she said. "It's about ignorance. It's about repression. It's about keeping one group down so another can rise. If you do nothing, it's almost as if you hung that noose yourself."