Someone is lying.

ISU graduate student Jay Gardner was removed from an ethnicity and gender class in February amid allegations he was a member of a white supremacy group.

The assistant professor teaching the journalism class, Tracey Owens-Patton, had Gardner kicked out, filing a formal complaint with the university citing incidents of harassment in the classroom and a warning she says she received from the Department of Public Safety about the existence of a new campus white supremacy group. That supposed warning is troublesome.

Owens-Patton said a high-ranking DPS officer told her that a white supremacist group had formed on campus and that Gardner might be a member, according to the Des Moines Register. She said she was told to “be aware of her personal safety.”

Capt. Gene Deisinger, the DPS official quoted in Owens-Patton’s complaint, denies that there are any fledgling supremacist groups on campus but refuses to comment about whether he told Owens-Patton that such a group had formed and one of her students was possibly a member. University officials also refuse to comment.

With the semester over and the appeal process exhausted, it seems the fight is over, the point moot.

But there’s still that lingering, pestering question: who was lying?

Did DPS officials have information about an alleged hate group on campus that they passed on to Owens-Patton? If so, they had and have an obligation to inform and warn the ISU community.

Did Owens-Patton lie in her complaint to the university? Racism is a bold accusation and needs corroboration. If she purposely misquoted campus police to chase out a student she doesn’t agree with, both Gardner and the public deserve to know.

That’s where we’re at. It’s Owens-Patton’s word against Deisinger’s, and neither side is talking.

One cannot expect Owens-Patton to come clean. If she lied to get a student kicked out of her classroom because he didn’t agree with her, then hopefully she’s worried about losing her job. She should be.

The burden here lies on our campus police. Deisinger knows who is telling the truth. He either told Owens-Patton about the past, present or future existence of a white supremacist group on campus, or he knows she is lying.

A police force that operates in secret is the most dangerous conceivable threat to an open and democratic society. If this incident is wrapped up in a still-active investigation, then cite that as the reason for the secrecy. Otherwise, this appears to be an outright disregard for the truth by DPS.

Someone is lying.

DPS should tell the truth.

Editorial Board: Dave Roepke, Erin Randolph, Charlie Weaver, Megan Hinds, Rachel Faber Machacha