Video by Vanessa Pearson
Around 1 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12th, two UNF students noticed four figures participating in suspicious activity on the Green. This would eventually lead them to find a dragon-like stuffed animal wearing a Sigma Beta Rho jacket hanging from a tree by a noose-like rope.
In an exclusive interview with Spinnaker, the two witnesses, who requested to stay anonymous, recounted what they saw take place.
“We saw four guys walking around suspiciously … two of them in hoods, two of them had hats and they were just walking around,” one of the witnesses who wish to remain anonymous as a safety precaution said.
According to one of the witnesses, the group of four then sat down on a bench by the Green, and after a few minutes they approached a nearby tree.
“They hung a jacket with one of the frat’s symbols on it and the head of a dinosaur … and put it to represent hanging like almost a person,” one witness said.
When asked about campus security, the witnesses said they saw a police car parked near Garage 44 near the UNF Fine Arts Center.
“During the whole thing there was a police car just sitting out in the parking lot, and I guess he never saw anything or never did anything about it,” said one of the witnesses.
They stated that the car was positioned in view of the Green with an officer present inside the vehicle. Spinnaker reached out to UNFPD Chief Frank Mackesy regarding the statement and he said he was unaware that there was a police car there, but if an officer had seen anything suspicious he would have reported it.
“Kinda tells you ‘Hey maybe it’s not 100% safe’ if people are out here doing that, what are other people able to do?” one witness said.
Sigma Beta Rho is one of UNF’s multicultural fraternities, with the organization housing members from many different ethnic backgrounds. Just last month the UNF chapter partnered with the Latin American Student Organization (LASO) to teach students salsa dancing and raise awareness for the Latin American community.
Initially UNFPD suspected the culprit to be a disgruntled member of the fraternity acting out in protest, but based on the eye witness account, the act was not done alone.
This incident surfaced just as other colleges, like the University of Missouri and Ithaca College, are experiencing protests and racial tension.
If you have any information regarding this incident or any others, please notify UNFPD or contact the Spinnaker tip line.
Spinnaker will continue to update as more information becomes available.
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