UW-L vice chancellor for student life Paula Knudson said she learned about the incident on Saturday after a number of students reported the banner and its negative impact on the community. She said she has identified the students and reached out to them to have a conversation about the incident and how inappropriate it was.

One of the students who reported the banner was UW-L senior Grace Mortenson, who said she was verbally accosted by the male students on the balcony when she came back to take pictures of the banner. She said she was taken aback when she saw it, and immediately felt uncomfortable and fearful of the impact it would have on others.

“I am disappointed that anyone thought that it was OK or funny,” she said. “This wasn’t just a joke in passing. It was premeditated.”

Bubba Davis, a sophomore at UW-L and one of the residents in the apartment where the banner was hung, said he and his friends came up with the idea after seeing a similar post on a social media site dedicated to fraternity life. He said hanging the banner was obviously a vulgar joke, but the banner only hung during the evening on Friday after move-in hours and he and his friends were sorry that people were hurt by it.