A Colorado State University student agriculture club used an illustration of a body hanging from a tree to invite people to a forum on the November budget referendums, eliciting a critical campuswide e-mail from CSU’s president.
The cover of the black-and-white flier from the Collegiate Farm Bureau says “Does CSU’s future hang on referendums C and D?” It shows a person in black ink, not much more detailed than a stick figure, hanging from a tree by a rope.
President Larry Penley sent an e-mail Monday to all faculty, staff and students denouncing the brochure, which was distributed on campus and in Fort Collins. E-mail versions reached at least a few alumni across the country.
“Given the historical context of lynching having been employed in our country as a method of racial murder and intimidation, use of this image is offensive and chilling,” Penley said.
He asked faculty to talk to students about the flier, to “help them understand why an image that might seem benign to them may be malignant to others.”
Students from the club that created the flier did not return calls seeking comment. Their faculty advisor, Dana Hoag, said university administrators told him not to discuss the issue, and he referred questions to them.
“I’d love to talk,” Hoag said.
The pamphlet quotes Collegiate Farm Bureau vice president Raymi Kliesen as saying the club “is holding this forum so voters can look closely and weigh the costs and benefits of C and D before they go to the ballot box in November.”
It was unclear whether the students intended to cause unrest or whether the club simply made an error in judgment while trying to illustrate the brochure’s title.
“Even if it was an accident, somebody should have caught the implications,” student body president Courtney Healey said.
CSU administrators were trying to determine who created the flier and whether the club’s adviser saw a copy before it was distributed, university spokesman Brad Bohlander said. The club, affiliated with the Colorado Farm Bureau, is not an official student organization and does not receive CSU funding, he said.
Administrators have not determined whether anyone will be sanctioned, Bohlander said.
The administration learned of the pamphlet late Friday, a day after the campus forum. Bohlander said he received complaints from people on campus and outside the university.
Penley said the flier “could also be interpreted as contributing to a racially hostile environment” under the civil rights act.
“I hope that the student group involved did not intend to cause such offense in its efforts to promote what was otherwise a worthwhile program on state issues,” Penley said. “However, any lack of intent does not diminish the harm that such an incident may cause.”
Black Student Services declined to comment.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-820-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
