Daniel Funke

University of Georgia

A college in upstate New York is grappling with a disturbing incident of racism that apparently happened on the night of the election.

The Buffalo News reports that a black baby doll was found with a noose around its neck in a freshman dorm elevator Tuesday night at Canisius College, located in Buffalo, N.Y.

After being informed of the incident, President John Hurley released a statement saying the college was investigating and said the act "goes against everything for which Canisius College stands."

"I cannot condemn this act strongly enough," Hurley wrote in the letter, which was sent to faculty, staff, undergraduates and graduate students, according to the News. "This cannot and will not be tolerated on the Canisius campus."

Related: Second case of racist graffiti in two months appears at Eastern Michigan Univ.

WKBW Buffalo reports the student government at Canisius is planning to address the incident, as well as the lack of racial diversity on campus. According to Forbes.com, 6.9% of students are African-American, while 71.9% are white.

Canisius students and community members took to Twitter to express their shock and condemnation.

Despite the backlash, President Hurley urged in his statement that people should not take the situation out of context.

"This incident is extremely troubling on several levels and it indicates we have work to do," he wrote. "I should stress, however, that we should also keep perspective and not paint the entire campus community with a broad brush over the stupid act of one or a few individuals."

The incident at Canisius comes at a time when many college students across the country are expressing anger over the election of Donald Trump on Tuesday.

In several states, protesters have been met with acts of hate, such as the distribution of Ku Klux Klan literature in Louisiana and threatening graffiti in Michigan.

Daniel Funke is a student at University of Georgia and a USA TODAY College lead digital producer.

This story originally appeared on the USA TODAY College blog, a news source produced for college students by student journalists. The blog closed in September of 2017.