Six months have passed since a series of racist death threats sparked nationally noticed campus demonstrations by the Penn State Black Caucus. Penn State administrators say it has been nearly that long since authorities have had any new leads in tracking down who sent the hate mail.

The university is poised to introduce an updated hotline and a new Web site for reporting and logging any future hate crimes or bias-motivated incidents, developed by the office of Terrell Jones, vice provost for educational equity.

But Black Caucus members continue to question some aspects of the university's handling of the racially motivated letters and e-mail messages. They have called for a centralized record of incidents that have already occurred and want to receive updates from Penn State officials about the hate mail investigations.

"If we don't know, how can we help people who come to us looking for help?" said Black Caucus member Assata Richards (graduate-sociology).

If the FBI, the state Attorney General's office or local law enforcement agencies find anything new, administrators will present the details, Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon said. In the meantime, he told all interested parties, "All you have to do is ask."

Black Caucus member Queen Nworisa (senior-international politics) said that if she were a top administrator committed to promoting diversity, she would make extra attempts at fostering communication with students who have faced hostility and racial intolerance in the past.

"I do need to set up a regular meeting with the caucus," Vice Provost Jones said. He was adviser to the student organization for about nine years before Cary Fraser, assistant professor of African and African-American studies and history, took on the role this year.

The recent spate of racist letters began in November 1999, when 68 black and Hispanic students received threatening e-mail messages, which were later traced to a Temple University computer lab. The next school year, several threats came through the U.S. mail, first in October 2000 and then in April. Another pair of threatening notes that spring were hand-delivered.

The death threat received April 20 — which was sent to a Daily Collegian reporter but directed at Lakeisha Wolf, Black Caucus president at the time — spurred a football field protest and a nine-day sit-in at the HUB-Robeson Center.

No suspects have been identified in any of the cases.

Penn State Police Services and the State College Police Department said this week that their investigations are still open. The FBI's Philadelphia field office and the state Attorney General office did not return requests for updates.

Federal and state law enforcement agencies this week were sorting through hundreds of potential reports of anthrax contamination.

Local authorities have also been on alert to guard against such biological threats, many of which are also being sent through the mail.

"Our attention has been refocused, but that doesn't mean . . . we're not investigating" the verbal death threats, said Bruce Kline, assistant director of Penn State police.

The university and the state have posted $27,000 in reward money for tips that lead to the arrest of whoever was behind them.

In May, the Penn State Alumni Association upped its reward to $25,000 in privately donated funds. A month later, Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers offered the remaining amount through its anonymous tip hotline — (800) 4-PA-TIPS.

"No one on this campus more than me wants to know who sent those letters," said Vice Provost Jones, as he mentioned the reward money. "I'd love to have those people." But he also wonders how far authorities can get without any new tips.

"I don't think we're going to get them. The trail is cold," he said.

He and other administrators have criticized the Black Caucus' decision to mention some of the precautions suggested to students by police — such as using gloves to open envelopes — and to publicize text from the threatening letters.

"It really does limit the investigative possibilities," Jones said.

Black Caucus Vice President Takkeem Morgan said the group decided to share the letters to emphasize how incendiary they were.

"People really need to know the nature of the threats," Morgan said. Threatening murder is much more severe than merely using racial slurs, he noted.

When the university declined a request to announce the situation at the Blue-White football scrimmage, the students decided to take other action, Morgan said.

To deal with any future threats more effectively, Jones and the Office of Educational Equity are looking to the full-time staff and student counselors of the Lion Support hotline to provide first-aid for incidents of hate.

Students can call 863-2020 at anytime — anonymously if they choose — and talk to counselors who recently received extra training to handle such cases, said Carol German, assistant director of student programs.

If an incident is severe enough, the police will be notified. All hate-related incidents will then be recorded and reported to the Multicultural Resource Center, she said. Staff will record the "what," the "where" and the "when" — if not the "who" — in each situation.

A new Web site currently under construction (www.equity.psu.edu/REPORTHATE) will also provide information on what to do about dealing with hate incidents.

Richards said she and others would prefer if the university established another hotline and a centralized office to deal specifically with future threats and incidents.

They worry that hate incidents will be separated and isolated by which part of the university ultimately handles them.

Caucus members said they have been informed about other alleged death threats — targeted at black football players and their parents — which were not reported to the local police. The Collegian has not been able to verify these claims.

Athletic Director Tim Curley and football coach Joe Paterno did not return requests for information this week. Spokesman Mahon and an assistant to Paterno each said they had no evidence of any such threats.

"We have noticed in rallies and writings in recent months references to threats that none of us in the administration were previously aware of and have never been given any details of," Mahon said in an e-mail. "Without details or someone coming forward, I'm not sure what to make of those references, (which) . . . tend not to be very specific."

While Jones emphasized the severity of the death threats, he warned caucus members against creating a "mythology" that exaggerates facts surrounding the situation.

Jones also hoped to quell caucus members' concerns about the gunshot death of Donald S. Conner Jr., 38, of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose body was found in Snow Shoe Township at the time of the HUB-Robeson Center sit-in.

Nworisa said she wants to know why more developments have not been released about the homicide.

An officer with the Pennsylvania State Police at Rockview said this week that there has been nothing to report recently.

Nworisa and others in the caucus do not feel entirely comfortable ruling out a link between Conner's death and a line from Wolf's death threat in April, which told authorities to search the north slope of Mt. Nittany for the body of a young black man.

Local police and the university have reiterated that there is no connection between Conner and Penn State. Jones said he thinks any new evidence about the death is likely to come out of New York and not Centre County.

"There is a difference between what you believe and what you can prove," Jones said, adding that the evidence discovered so far does not support a link.

"I don't understand why that (link) is still being referred to on Web sites and on flyers," Mahon said. "The fact that murders aren't solved isn't unusual. That's the reality of murders. Unfortunately a lot of times, they're not solved."

Black Caucus members say that they have sensed a chilly reception when voicing their grievances so far this semester. They say they wish the administration would initiate more dialogue with them.

"When you're getting death threats, there's obviously a problem," Richards said.