Unveiling simmering racial tension at NIU, a threatening racist message on a bathroom wall led to a university closure, disrupting the lives of students and faculty this past December.

Following the discovery of the message in the Grant Towers North residence hall, which told black students to “go home” and referenced the Virginia Tech killings, university officials decided to heighten university security, and following student outcries, closed the university Monday, Dec. 10, throwing finals week into disarray.

As of Jan. 13, University Police were unable to comment on the investigation’s status, explaining that any materials pertaining to the threat would have to be obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request.

To discuss student fears and concerns over the perceived threat, a meeting was held Dec. 10 by the Black Student Union, the NAACP and NIU President John Peters. The meeting garnered attention from Rockford and Chicago television stations, despite the actual proceedings being closed to the media. About 200 students attended.

At the meeting, BSU President Samuel Davis said he asked that classes be cancelled or postponed due to the threat and added that many students had already left the campus. Davis said he could not say whether those students would return for their other finals.

According to the university and a letter addressed to the student body by President Peters, Monday’s final exams were officially re-scheduled for the Friday of finals week; however, some professors offered students other opportunities to take exams or canceled them altogether. Foreign language instructor Bill Harrison was one such instructor.

“I told my students that I could take the test to them in the dorms or somewhere else,” Harrison said in a Dec. 10 Northern Star article.

Some students expressed outrage at the university closure.

“At first, I thought it was a joke. Personally, I feel it was a ploy by some freshman,” said Craig Briars, senior marketing major. Briars and other students noticed extensive police presence, which was found throughout the campus for the entire week.

Cortland, Sycamore and DeKalb police departments were all involved in assisting to secure the campus during finals. In the Dec. 10 press conference, President Peters mentioned that federal assistance had been called in on the investigation.