The University of Tennessee-Knoxville has released a statement condemning images reportedly posted by students to Snapchat that show them wearing blackface and captioned with racist comments.

The images are "repulsive" and the caption "abhorrent," says the statement released by university's media relations department.

The pictures circulating on various social media platforms are screenshots of a Snapchat featuring four people. Two are wearing what appears to be black skin care masks.

"We for racial equality boys," the caption reads. "Bout to get this free college now that I'm black let's gooooo #blacklivesmatter."

"The racism displayed in this image does not represent the behavior we expect of students or our Volunteer values," the statement reads.

The BIAS Education Response Team and Office of the Dean of Students have been made aware of the images and "the university is determining how to handle this incident."

"Federal law prohibits the university from sharing how the university handles matters with individual students," the statement concludes.

A petition was started on Change.org by someone who identifies herself as a student, asking UT to "expel University of Tennessee students that think blackface is acceptable."

The petition also asks UT to "enact a zero tolerance policy towards racism and hate speech." Within hours of being posted, the petition had hundreds of signatures. As of Saturday night, more than 4,000 had signed it.

University of Tennessee NAACP responds with 'strong condemnation' of blackface posts

The UT Knoxville chapter of the NAACP posted a response to the Snapchat posts.

The UT Knoxville chapter "would like to express its strong condemnation to the series of racial attacks that have happened in the last few months, and the most recent form of black face appearing on social media platforms."

"Despite ongoing efforts within our university to enhance opportunities consisting of culture competency for staff and students regarding diversity, there is clearly more work to be done and we are not on the right track - we cannot, and will not, stand by to watch these situations continuously occur on our campus," the statement reads.

The Office of Multicultural Student Life is hosting "a space for reflection and conversation" on Thursday night at 5 p.m., for "a conversation concerning recent campus events," according to UT's statement. The event will take place at the Frieson Black Cultural Center in the multipurpose room.

Swastikas painted on the Rock last year

Two racist incidents occurred at UT last semester, when swastikas and anti-Semitic messages were painted on the Rock. The first happened days after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 people were killed and seven were injured.

Within a week after the first painting, the Rock was again painted with swastikas and "messages of hate."

After those paintings, Wayne Davis, the UT Knoxville interim chancellor, released a statement saying he was "disappointed and deeply concerned."

"I want to make it clear that the university does not condone these actions or other acts of intimidation or intolerance," Davis said. "No one should feel unsafe because of their religious beliefs."

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available.