Tensions have grown on the SUNY Potsdam campus after a third hate letter targeting a faculty member surfaced last week. The deputy commissioner of the State University police force has visited Potsdam to help with security.

Officials say the letter contained racist and homophobic language that also referenced the wider campus community. That has many students, especially students of color, concerned for their safety.

SUNY Potsdam released few details about the third letter delivered to English and communications professor John Youngblood last Wednesday, citing the ongoing investigation. President Kristin Esterberg said it did not include an “imminent threat” that would merit closing the campus. But unlike the first two threatening letters directed at Youngblood and his family last April, this one also mentioned the broader campus, "a more generalized level of threat against even people with liberal political perspectives," said Esterberg. "It’s very upsetting to students."

Esterberg says students of color and LGBT students are most concerned because of the racist and homophobic language in the letters. She says 50 to 60 students came to tell her so Monday afternoon. "I think there are many students on our campus who are very deeply fearful still who want to make sure that the campus is keeping them safe."

Esterberg said the campus has beefed up security with newly installed cameras, a third patrol officer, and increased patrols from village police. Secondary entrances to buildings have been locked. "We are working urgently on bringing additional patrol officers from around SUNY to campus," Esterberg said.

Related stories: SUNY Potsdam professor who received hate letters speaks out Some students believe those measures aren’t enough. About 200 students dressed in black delayed a men’s basketball game Tuesday night. According to the Watertown Daily Times, they lined the perimeter of the court, chanted, and demanded the university do more about security, and racism and discrimination in general.

Freshman Patrick Yee wasn’t at the basketball game, but he has participated in other speakouts and demonstrations. He said like many SUNY Potsdam students of color, he’s from New York City, where safety is often a concern. "We have gone through many issues, like being threatened, being bullied, as in actually having our lives in jeopardy."

Yee said many city students hoped SUNY Potsdam would be different despite the predominantly white population in the North Country. He said, "A lot of people from the city have come to Potsdam, and Potsdam from over the years has progressed in diversity because they have been recruiting a lot of people from the city."

Safety concerns stemming from the hate letters have also grown into larger conversations at SUNY Potsdam about discrimination and racial injustice. "Like many campuses across the country, black students in particular are really organizing around racial justice issues," said Esterberg. She added she’s paying attention to protests on campuses in Ithaca, New York City, and across the country, as well as on her own campus. "I have to be honest. We’ve got some work to do. We’ve got a history on this campus of it not being as welcoming as it needed to be. We need to listen and understand and to make some changes."

Meanwhile, the investigation into who wrote the third hate letter continues. A former student, Amjad “Mark” Hussein was arrested last month for allegedly writing the first two. Esterberg wouldn’t say whether he’s been questioned about the third, but she did say he is a “person of interest.”

Hussein is barred from campus. An order of protection was issued against him to protect professor John Youngblood and his family.