A racist incident at American University this week has prompted some black members of Congress to call on the U.S. Department of Education for a civil rights investigation.

On Monday, AU officials reported that bananas were hung from strings shaped like nooses at multiple locations on campus that morning. Some of the fruit were marked with the letters AKA, an acronym for the predominantly black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha. The incident took place on the same day that Taylor Dumpson, an AKA member, started her position as student government association president.

Dumpson stood alongside Texas Representative Sheila Jackson Lee today at a press conference on Capitol Hill that addressed the incident.

“The deepest pain that any of us can feel is that we are outside of the protection of the United States of America, the civil rights, the first amendment, the due process—and all that has been garnered by the blood that has been shed by our ancestors,” Jackson Lee, said.

She’s calling on the U.S. Department of Education to investigate a civil rights violation “of anyone who thinks that they can recklessly challenge those people of color.” And she’s asking the U.S. Department of Justice to conduct a full investigation.

The incident caused AU students to walk out of a town hall meeting on Tuesday and gather on campus for a march. Some of them also obtained withdraw forms from the university. Campus police announced a $1,000 reward for information related to the incident, which they deemed a hate crime, and released two videos that show a possible suspect.

The FBI announced on Wednesday that it was assisting the university in the investigation.

Earlier today, another local institution reported an incident involving a noose that were discovered last week. Maryland University officials say it was found hanging in the kitchen of a fraternity house on campus on April 27.