North Carolina University: Figure hung from noose was student art project

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina university says a figure hanging from a tree by a noose was part of a "student of color's final art project."

News outlets report the noosed figure was found at the University of North Carolina Charlotte on Tuesday. An email to the UNCC community said police determined it was an art project submitted as an end-of-semester assignment.

The university called depictions of lynching "hurtful, threatening, and offensive" and said the project was immediately removed. The university stressed the project wasn't a response to the student government's letter criticizing the reinstallation of the Silent Sam Confederate statue at UNC Chapel Hill.

Art Department Chair Lydia Thompson tells WBTV-TV the project was "not really there for public consumption" and wasn't meant to stay up beyond the student's final critique.