NORMAL - Demolition of two Illinois State University residence halls resumed Wednesday morning as police investigate an apparent racially motivated threat found at the work site earlier this week. | Noose called isolated but eye-opening incident | Editorial: Community must renew commitment to fight racism

A noose about 8 inches long was found Monday afternoon in the work area of a black member of Laborers Local 362, which has six workers on the job site at the former Dunn-Barton and Walker residence halls, said David Penn, business manager for the union.

"We all have zero-tolerance for this type of thing," Penn said Tuesday. "All workers have a right to have a safe and violence-free workplace."

Work to demolish the buildings resumed Wednesday morning, ISU spokesman Jay Groves said. The work stoppage had been expected to end after a job-site meeting in which Penn wanted to be confident workers would not be in danger.

Penn did not think the incident was meant as a joke, but said it was not funny regardless of the intention.

"The worker was really shaken," Penn said. "He was really scared."

Meanwhile, ISU police are investigating the incident.

Police first will interview the people who were on the work site, said Sgt. Derek Ronnfeldt. No charges had been filed yet Tuesday, and it's unknown how long an investigation could take, he said.

"We're taking it very seriously," Ronnfeldt said. "We'll conduct a thorough investigation."

River City Construction of Peoria is the general contractor. Alpine Demolition Services of Chicago is the subcontractor for the demolition project.

"Although the university secured and turned the work site over to contractors and subcontractors 10 days ago, the fact that this act occurred on our campus is troubling and unacceptable," ISU President Al Bowman said in a statement.

Anyone with information is asked to contact university police at (309) 438-8631.

Other racial incidents in Bloomington-Normal

Racial incidents or hate crimes don't happen very often at the Normal campus, Ronnfeldt said. However, he also cautioned people about jumping to conclusions, saying it would be premature for the police to call the incident on campus a racial threat since police have no clue on the motivation yet.

Racially based hate crimes also are not particularly common in the Twin Cities, and Bloomington and Normal police stations do not recall an anything similar to the noose discovery.

The Bloomington Police Department had two hate crimes in 2007 and five so far in 2008, said spokesman Duane Moss. Most of those crimes are verbal comments or threats over racial matters, but the category also could include hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender or creed, he said.

The Normal Police Department typically sees a half-dozen racial hate crimes a year, said Sgt. Dan Kelley. The three so far in 2008 include a racial comment written on a school bathroom wall, racial comments yelled during an arrest for damaging property and racial comments made during a dispute between an employee and an employer, Kelley said.

The two ISU dorms are being demolished to make way for the university's $50 million Student Fitness and Kinesiology and Recreation Center. It is scheduled to be completed in July 2010.

The beginning stages of the 2½-month demolition project got under way last week, Penn said.

Ryan Denham contributed to this report.