Temple investigating after student organization receives offensive note

Temple University police are seeking to learn who sent an offensive note to a student organization on Monday.

The note, which referred to homosexuals with an offensive term, was slipped under the door of the office of Queer People of Color, the Temple News first reported and university spokesman Ray Betzner confirmed Thursday.

Carmella Hall, the group's president, said she believes that one person is responsible for the anonymous handwritten note.

Hall said the message contained anti-black and homophobic language, and included phrases like "your queerness is in conflict with your blackness." It's the first time the organization has received such a message its in near-decade-long existence, she said.

"This isn't going to deter us, this isn't going to stop us, and their level of ignorance will not be tolerated here," she said.

The university's Office of Institutional Diversity said on Twitter that it is "swiftly working with [and] supporting" the organization's executive board.

"Temple University does not tolerate this type of behavior, and messages of hate or intolerance are antithetical to university values," Betzner said in a statement. "Students identified in the investigation could face discipline through the university's Student Conduct code."

The organization is described on the university's website as "an inclusive environment for individuals of various backgrounds including but not limited to: ethnic descents, ideologies, spiritual beliefs, race, political perspectives, etc. These individuals may also identify as a member or ally within the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, questioning community."

The incident comes months after three racist fliers concerning the 2016 Democratic primaries were found around campus.

Temple isn't the only local university to be called to investigate hate rhetoric in recent months. Neo-Nazi fliers at the University of Pennsylvania were found in April, months after black members of the school's freshman class were sent racist hate messages through a text-messaging app.

Betzner said Temple is offering support to members of the organization.