Let us not feign confusion over the meaning of a noose, regardless of the material from which it is constructed, nor pretend that one can safely be ignored.

Anyone who has somehow forgotten the source of the terror inspired need only visit Without Sanctuary, and while there, bear in mind that hate crime is not merely our past.

Hate crime and hate groups are on the rise again, now:

• An average of 210,000 incidents a year were reported to police over a recent period, according to the U.S. Department of Justice study Hate Crimes Reported by Victims and Police
• The number of active hate groups grew from 602 in 2000 to 844 in 2006, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
• Of those active hate groups, 23 call North Carolina home and four are headquartered in Raleigh

There is no mystery about the meaning of a Southern noose, whether ready to do work at the end of a stout rope or writ small and in pencil, where someone will find it.

North Carolina State University's Chancellor struck the right note when, responding to the discovery on campus of a noose made of toilet paper, he wrote:

We want to resist the temptation to overreact to what appears to be an isolated incident. This could be someone's idea of a prank or it might constitute a crime. In either case, it is inappropriate. This is an act that has become symbolic of racial hatred.
There is no room for this kind of action on the NC State campus. Even if it is intended as a prank, it is disruptive and an offense to a safe learning and working environment.

Let us not quibble over the choice of particular words but note that a healthy, open debate ensued, and continues.

Upholding a constructive record that is at least four decades deep, NCSU's student newspaper, the Technician, took a strong position, saying in part:

Our campus needs to lead the nation and set a standard of how race issues are dealt with. Nooses are popping up all over the country and N.C. State must take a firm stance and develop sound policies stating we will not tolerate this type of action at our University -- N.C. State is no place for hate.

To the credit of those involved, on-campus debate was punctuated by a student government resolution "to formally condemn the act of hatred," thus calling the effect of that noose by its right name.

I was an undergraduate at NCSU when night fell on the day of Martin Luther King's assassination. Standing on a Lee Dormitory balcony I was restrained by my suite mates from voicing too loud an objection to the small cross that was burned that night while so many of my fellow students cheered as though there were cause for celebration. My suite mates believed I was in danger, and in retrospect, perhaps I was.

Let none of us stand silent and through silence or underestimation of the infectious malevolence of hate allow the behaviors of intimidation to find any comfortable place among us here.