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Oregon Health & Science University, the largest research institution in the state, announced that an employee has been disciplined for posting an image of two nooses in an online chat room in April.
"While our members have been mourning the senseless loss of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, OHSU has also been completing an investigation and action plan regarding an incident involving noose imagery within our OHSU community—the third incident of its kind in the last three years," OHSU President Dr. Danny Jacobs said in a statement Friday.
Jacobs wrote that the OHSU employee posted the image during an online workgroup April 10. On April 22, another employee reported the incident to the hospital's Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Department.
The department investigated the incident, Jacobs wrote, and "took strong disciplinary action" against the employee May 5. The employee was not fired.
"Let me be clear: OHSU will not tolerate racist actions, imagery or speech," Jacobs wrote. "Having to address another noose incident in our own work community amid the tragic killing of Mr. Floyd is incredibly disturbing. It is appalling that one of the most deplorable and feared symbols in American history was posted in a workgroup discussion."
The Oregon Nurses Association condemned the action in a statement, as well as OHSU's weekslong process to discipline the employee.
"Nurses demand OHSU management take swift action to fire the employee, explain to workers why it took nearly two months for management to disclose this racist incident," the ONA said in a statement. "Nurses are called to combat the visible and invisible racism in our culture and our institutions. Today, we're again reminded we don't need to look beyond our own workplace to see it."