But the threat at Hocking, with its racially tense environment, is sending ripples through the area. Students and faculty at Ohio University in nearby Athens are also on alert. Short of stationing police officers in the woods, which Hocking lacks the manpower to do, officials there say vigilance remains the best defense.
Students rushed to classes Tuesday as an icy wind blew snow flurries through the trees. Disturbing rumors floated, including a claim later determined to be false that nooses had been found in the woods. Some students, all of them White, admitted they had heard racist comments on campus before, but said those attitudes are confined to just a handful of people.
But many of them, like 19-year-old Jacob Taylor, didn't understand what all the fuss was about."It was just some person being ignorant," he said, and headed upstairs to his room in Hocking Heights.
