Humble, loving priest or hateful, armed Klansman? Priest's campus appearance sparks emergency

University students go nuts over priest's robes

It's a sad state of affairs when college students cannot tell a priest from a Klansman, but this is precisely what happened at Indiana University Bloomington this week.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Indiana University Bloomington students had a scare that someone might be on their campus while not sharing their all-inclusive views of super-acceptance and tolerance. Upon seeing a man dressed in long white robes, students instantly assumed they were faced with a Klansman in full regalia. This sight prompted the posting of a photo and rapid-fire Twitter warnings.

The viral Twitter traffic was picked up by campus officials who were warned that the Klansman was also armed with a whip.

One status warned: "iu students be careful, there's someone walking around in kkk gear with a whip."

Another warning read: "Supposedly a member of the KKK is just strolling through campus. This obviously wouldn't have happened if IU was in the championship game"

Apparently the Klan respects basketball championships?

Residential hall adviser, Ethan Gill, took the opportunity to solemnly inform everyone that the First Amendment and campus safety are things: "There has been a person reported walking around campus in a KKK outfit holding a whip. Because the person is protected under first amendment rights, IUPD cannot remove this person from campus unless an act of violence is committed. Please PLEASE PLEASE be careful out there tonight, always be with someone and if you have no dire reason to be out of the building, I would recommend staying indoors if you're alone."

Yes, stay inside to prevent being offended, always a smart choice.

Eventually someone got to the bottom of the mystery, presumably by tracking the priest down in their Mystery Machine. It was quickly realized that students' overactive imaginations were the culprits and the whip-armed Klansman was actually just a priest passing through campus, dressed in traditional robes. The supposed "whip" was just a long belt, or possibly a large rosary - which incidentally, is a weapon of far more awesome power.

According to the informative campus adviser, Klansmen have appeared on campus before and have previously harassed students, although none have ever been armed while doing so. He explained the picture, which was also passed around, actually revealed the threatening suspect was simply a priest. He later referred to the whole incident as a "hilarious miscommunication."

Misscommunication, perhaps. But hilarious? Less so when you realize these are Indiana's brightest minds attending a university of state. Perhaps they were too uninformed to know what a priest looked like in his robes, or too afraid of being offended, or offending him, to ask?

The priest was later identified as Fr. Jude McPeak, a member of the Dominican order of friars. Fr. McPeak serves the students in the campus church and student center.

Here's a protip for the worried students. Get over your fear of offensive people and ideas. Leave your dorms and go to church. Learn the difference between a whip and a rosary and see which one serves you better in life. You might learn something new.

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