Following an investigation by the University of Michigan’s Division of Public Safety and Security, it was announced on Monday that a rope found June 20 on the workstation of two Michigan Medicine employees was tied in a fishing knot, rather than the noose as assumed.
After a nearly month-long investigation, DPSS concluded a Michigan Medicine employee had been practicing a “uni knot,” also known as the “hangman’s knot,” on their break with the spool rope used for medical procedures, and the rope was then “moved by several people” before ending up at the workstation.
The day after the rope was found, Marschall Runge, executive vice president of medical affairs and Michigan Medicine CEO, said in an email to employees it was “a symbol of hate and discrimination.” Runge then promised an investigation into the instance would follow.
“We have taken immediate action to have this investigated as both an act of discrimination and a criminal act of ethnic intimidation,” Runge wrote. “This act of hate violates all of the values that we hold dear and will not be tolerated.”
Now, Heather Young, DPSS director of strategic communications, assured the public — based on multiple witness interviews and the story of an employee who came forward — University police have determined no hate crime took place.
Young said University police are prepared to reopen the case if new, relevant information comes forward.