A 10-inch noose made of toilet paper hanging in a bathroom inside the Motor Pool Office at Sullivan Shops was reported to police at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.

Only employees with keys have access to the building, which closes at 5 p.m.

Chancellor James Oblinger released a statement, which was e-mailed to University officials and staff, and posted on the N.C. State homepage.

“We want to resist the temptation to overreact to what appears to be an isolated incident,” Oblinger said in his press release. “This could be someone’s idea of a prank or it might constitute a crime. In either case, it is inappropriate.”

Oblinger was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Capt. Jon Barnwell of Campus Police said the University is investigating the incident and forwarded all questions to Keith Nichols, director of News Services. Nichols however, said Campus Police is actually conducting the investigation.

Nichols said the University is not afraid of any backlash.

“We’re taking it seriously and it is being investigated,” he said.

Christina Cox, a senior in biological sciences and president of the Society of African American Culture, said she found out about the incident Thursday afternoon.

“I was appalled and disgusted that something like this would happen at my university,” she said.

According to Cox, she and many SAAC members were not satisfied with the University’s response to the incident.

Cox said SAAC had a meeting Thursday night and Jose Picart, vice provost for diversity and African American affairs, came to speak to the members.

“I absolutely feel the University response was not sufficient,” she said. “One of the biggest things from the African American student body that we heard at SAAC and we voiced to Picart was that the language was too tolerant [in the chancellor’s statement].”

According to Cox, when an issue such as this one arises, stronger language needs to be used to deter further action or replications.

“It’s not an inappropriate action,” Cox said. “It’s an unacceptable action.”

Another concern of hers, Cox said, was that the message was not sent out to the student body.

“I feel like the students definitely need to know,” she said.

Cox said the University was not prepared to deal with the situation.

“There are nooses popping up all over the nation [after the Jena 6] … We shouldn’t have to go back and think about what kind of response to make,” she said. “It’s been happening all over the country.”

The incident follows the publication of an opinion column in the Nubian Message, titled “Noose: The New ‘N Word’.”

Geoffrey Hunter, a junior in political science and president of N.C. State’s NAACP chapter, said the chapter hopes to work with various organizations on campus to start dialogue, not just among the black community but among the entire student body.

Hunter refused to comment further until the North Carolina NAACP chapter releases a statement.

According to Cox, a prank like this cannot be tolerated because it is hurtful and offensive.

“My biggest concern is that this incident will be looked at as a joke and not taken as seriously as the situation warrants,” she said.

She said it may be hard to understand why this is such a big deal to the black community if a person is in the majority and is looking in from the outside.

“There’s no way that a noose hanging anywhere on campus by a staff member, faculty member or student cannot be taken seriously, especially by the African American community,” Cox said.

People were hanged and killed from nooses historically, Cox said, and therefore, she said she feels the University needs to make it clear that repercussions will be stringent so that a copycat incident does not occur.

Cox said she thinks the best way to prevent these situations is promote dialogue, which various organizations on campus are doing next week. But, she said the University administrators also play a big role in promoting diversity.

“Everyone has to take a PE class. Why don’t we all have to take a class to learn about diversity?” she asked.