Amid a week already fraught with racial tension, students at the University of Missouri in Columbia woke up Thursday morning to news that vandals had targeted the school's Black Culture Center.
A Twitter account run by its student government, the Legion of Black Collegians, tweeted an image of a sign outside the center with spray paint covering the word "black."
The tweet included the message, "We're not afraid. You clearly are. Stay strong Mizzou."
The "Black" has been eliminated in "Black Culture Center". We're not afraid. You clearly are. Stay strong Mizzou. pic.twitter.com/Z45Wt3Ydx9— LBC (@MizzouLBC) November 12, 2015
A large group of mostly-black students had staged a protest outside the building last night, but the vandalism was discovered just after 1:30 a.m. local time, according to a report from the University of Missouri Maneater newspaper.
We are about to leave the Black Culture Center. #Mizzou. Protest. pic.twitter.com/45K5szVynZ— deray mckesson (@deray) November 12, 2015
The center, which traces its roots at the university to 1972, has been targeted in the past -- in 2010, two students scattered cotton balls on the center’s front lawn.
On Thursday, University of Missouri students expressed dismay that a space designed as a safe community place for students had once again been targeted.
The BCC focuses on the needs of black students, but is open for ALL students.— Antoinette (@iLoveAntoinette) November 12, 2015
I could honestly cry. To see someone deface something that is the only safe haven for us on this campus....that shit hurts!— Antoinette (@iLoveAntoinette) November 12, 2015
What was the point of this? Why? pic.twitter.com/EEMmkKmPFh— Tori Rudd (@_HelloTOTO) November 12, 2015
The vandalism comes after weeks of tension at the university.
University of Missouri's president and chancellor both resigned earlier in the week after students protested that they had mishandled reports of racism on campus. On Wednesday, police arrested a white man who made racist threats to students using the anonymous messaging app Yik Yak.
The weeks-long protests were sparked in September when the student government president, who is black, reported that people had shouted racial slurs at him from a passing pickup truck.
Another student reported a swastika being drawn in feces on the wall of a campus dorm.
It got national attention when one student demanded school officials' resignation by going on a hunger strike and the Mizzou football team refused to play until there was a change in leadership, which would have cost the university an estimated $1 million.
The incidents at the University of Missouri sparked wider conversations about systemic racism on college campuses across the country.
UPDATE: 12:00 PM CT
Mashable's Colin Daileda visited the Black Culture Center at the University of Missouri campus on Thursday afternoon, and noted that the signed was back to normal.
The Black Culture Center sign at Mizzou seems back to normal now, by the way. pic.twitter.com/SMzwktAhyA— Colin Daileda (@ColinDaileda) November 12, 2015