Four students at George Fox University, in Oregon, have confessed that they were responsible for hanging a cutout image of Barack Obama from a tree on the campus last week, the institution announced in a statement on its Web site today. The university withheld the students’ identities, citing federal privacy law, but said it had taken disciplinary actions against them “up to and including immediate long-term suspension.”

A university employee discovered the cutout, along with a sign referring to a scholarship program that benefits minority students, early on September 23. University officials and student and faculty leaders have released numerous statements since then condemning the incident and supporting diversity efforts on the campus. —Charles Huckabee