A racially offensive letter and anti-gay graffiti appeared this week at the University of Vermont, where previous bias complaints have angered students and administrators. Somebody mailed a two-page, signed racist letter to UVM´s Office of Multicultural Affairs, said Tom Gustafson, director of public relations at UVM.

"It was a very disturbing letter," Gustafson said. "It was filled with racist invective. "He declined to go into the details of the letter´s content. It arrived at the multicultural office Tuesday.

Gustafson declined to say who signed the letter or where it came from, other than it was post marked in a Vermont town outside of Chittenden County. The letter did not threaten any specific person, he said. Calls to the campus multicultural office and Student Government President Jennifer Anderson were not returned Wednesday.

Gufstason said campus police are investigating. "They do need to determine whether a crime´s been committed," he said.

The letter made no mention of a racially charged having incident last month involving the Acacia fraternity, Gustafson said. Pledges from the fraternity took a photograph of themselves giving an obscene gesture to a minority student.

UVM is mulling punishment of the pledges and the fraternity. Acacia has apologized for the in cident, but some students say that is not enough and are demanding Acacia be closed.

Also Tuesday, students found the anti-gay grafflti along a stair way in Davis Hall, a UVM dor mitory. Cleaning crews erased the offensive message and, campus police are investigating.

If a student wrote the graffiti and is caught, punishment can range from a written warning to banishment from the school, Gustafson said.

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The University of Vermont is grappling with yet another racial incident--this time in the form of hate mail. The school´s department of MultiCultural Affairs received a signed letter from off campus which contains language officials call "horrendous."

(**SOT**) ((a lot of very offensive, racist language. Words that I wouldn´t frankly care to read again. the tone and the invective of the letter indicate that it was written by somebody who is disturbed.))

(**VO**) Police at UVM say the letter is directed toward blacks--and was not addressed to one specific person. Last week, the multicultural affairs department joined a protest against the Acacia Fraternity which is under investigation for an alleged hazing last month. Officials don´t know whether there's a connection between the protest and the hate letter.

(*On Camera*) UVM police are still investigating but at this point, they do not believe a crime was committed because the letter does not make any specific threats.

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