College student charged with hate crime for hanging noose in campus elevator

A college student has been charged with a felony hate crime for hanging a noose on a campus elevator.

Andrew Smith, 19, was arrested Monday after police say he fashioned a piece of rope into a noose, then hung it on the elevator at a residence hall on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.

A female friend was reportedly with Smith at the time and later told police after the noose was found by students early Sunday morning.

Smith has since pleaded not guilty and was released on a $5,000 bail, according to the Chicago Tribune.

He is due back in court on October 22.

This is not the first racially charged incident at the Illinois university. Earlier this year, a lawsuit was filed by black employees who said they had been subject to racial slurs and threats, including nooses, Ku Klux Klan garb, racist graffiti, and confederate flags.

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Black students recently expressed their outrage towards the university, which they said needs to be tougher on hate crimes and publicize incidents of racism.

In a joint statement from student groups Black Students for Revolution and Black United Front, students asked the university to review its discipline policies for perpetrators of racial hatred and make all racist instances public.

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