An Internet blog has reported that Central Michigan University officials suspended a male student until Aug. 1 for hanging four nooses inside a classroom last November.

The blog, titled “Republican Ranting,” claims a source familiar with the case anonymously leaked the information last week.

“The student will take incompletes on his course work and finish them after Aug. 1,” the blog reported Saturday. “He’ll then be allowed to graduate.”

To access the blog, visit http://inkslwc.wordpress.com/2008/03/21/leaked-info-noose-student-at-central-michigan-suspended/.

Panelists at a student disciplinary hearing originally wanted to expel the student, according to the blog. However, the senior appealed the decision and his punishment was reduced, it said.

On Monday, Central Michigan Life asked CMU officials to comment on the reported leak.

“It would be a problem for that person to be leaking information to the media,” said Tony Voisin, director of Student Life.

University officials will not comment on the issue because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. Under FERPA, university officials cannot release student records, which include disciplinary matters.

In the event that CMU violates FERPA and either releases the name of the student who hung the nooses or their punishment, it could lose federal funding.

Information about the case – including the student’s name – might only be released if Isabella County Prosecutor Larry Burdick decides there is enough evidence to press charges.

Certain potential evidence was seized last November and is being examined forensically, Burdick said. The case is being held up because he has not yet received results from that evidence.

“I realize it is a source of frustration,” Burdick said on Monday. “It is for me, too.”

On Nov. 12, a CMU staff member reported to CMU Police that a student found four hangman nooses dangling from the ceiling inside Industrial Engineering and Technology Building’s Room 228.

Less than one week later, a male CMU student contacted campus police and admitted to hanging the nooses inside the classroom.

Central Michigan Life received a confession from an anonymous person on its Web site less than 24 hours before the police confession. The anonymous source wrote that the nooses were hung as part of a Halloween prank and were not meant to target a specific individual or group.

It is uncertain whether or not the student who called police has any connection to the individual who posted the comment on the Web site.

After CMU Police investigated the case, the department forwarded the police report over to Burdick’s office for review.

Central Michigan Life requested a copy of the police report using the Freedom of Information Act, but the university denied the request because it remains an open investigation.

The student’s case file would not be made available at the courthouse unless Burdick decides there is enough evidence to press charges, said Barbara Jennings, Isabella County Courthouse business office manager.

news@cm-life.com

E-mail the author: defaultuser