(Photo via Google Streetview)

A day after protests erupted at American University over the appearance of bananas strung up in nooses, authorities at the University of Maryland reported yesterday that a noose had been found inside of a fraternity house last Thursday.

UMD police said the noose was found around 1:30 p.m., April 27, on the College Park campus, and it is being investigated as a hate/bias incident. The campus newspaper, the Diamondback, reports that it was hanging in the kitchen of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house.

President Wallace Loh called “despicable,” in a statement released yesterday.

“I resolutely condemn the use of a symbol of violence and hatred for the purpose of intimidating members of our University of Maryland community,” Loh said, adding that the college community stands “united in our commitment to core values of human dignity, diversity, inclusiveness, and intellectual freedom” and stand against “such craven expressions of bigotry.”

A university spokesperson declined to say why the incident wasn’t reported to the community earlier.

On Monday, American University officials reported that bananas were hung from string in the shape of nooses at three 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.

The following day, hundreds of AU students participated in a march on campus, and many requested withdrawal forms from the school in protest. The university has released two videos of a potential suspect.

Both universities have seen other racist incidents this school year.

In March, someone posted white nationalist posters around the University of Maryland’s campus. And at American, two black students reported rotten bananas at their dorm rooms in September.