MANHATTAN — Hundreds of Kansas State University staff and students, along with Manhattan residents, gathered on campus to urge each other to unite make everyone feel welcome on campus.

The university took the unusual move of cancelling all classes from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday so participants could walk together and attend a KSUnite rally.

Kansas State President Richard Myers urged the crowd to define the school by its common humanity and to not be dominated by fear.

The event comes after a noose and racist flyers were found on the campus during the summer. Two weeks ago, a 21-year-old defaced his own car with racist graffiti, which was investigated as a possible hate crime until the man, who was not a Kansas State student, admitted it was a Halloween prank.