HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: Non-existent hate crime prompts $1 million diversity initiative.

The Daily Caller reports that the University of Delaware is launching a $1 million “diversity” initiative in response to a non-existent hate crime. The “hate crime” consisted of “nooses” supposedly found hanging from a tree on campus. But the police found, and demonstrated through a video, that the alleged nooses were just the remnants of paper lanterns from an earlier campus event.

No matter. One administrator said the mere thought that paper lanterns could have been nooses shows the school has a toxic racial environment. That will be $1 million, please.

It seems to me that the mere thought that paper lanterns could be nooses suggests that some students have been conditioned to find racism (and, more broadly, victimization) where none exists. “Diversity training” will further inculcate this mentality.

You can’t make this stuff up. Sadly, you don’t have to.