Four students received threatening e-mails targeting members of minority groups Thursday.

Three death threats were sent to two women and a man from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. A fourth e-mail was sent to a male black student leader.

The victims' names and group affiliations had been mentioned in an article in The Daily Collegian, according to a representative from a coalition of concerned students that formed in response to the threats. The students in the group, which comprises members of Lambda Student Alliance, Black Caucus and the Undergraduate Student Government, asked that their names be withheld because of safety concerns.

Penn State Police Services is continuing to investigate the threats, Officer Sam Ricciotti said. Because the case remains under investigation, police could provide few other details yesterday.

The e-mail sent to the LGBT members threatened death to all "queers." The message sent to the black student leader included racial slurs and said the victim wanted everyone to take a black history course, according to copies of the threats obtained by the Collegian.

The threats came from the same America Online account and were sent to students' Penn State e-mail addresses, one of the victims said.

The coalition of concerned students will host a press conference at noon Monday in front of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center. The students are urging local authorities to continue to seek additional assistance from the Justice Department and the Civil Rights Enforcement Section of the Attorney General's Public Protection Division.

The group also has been meeting with Penn State administrators, including Vice Provost for Educational Equity Terrell Jones, to discuss setting up a reporting office for hate crimes, the student leaders said. The students said they want an office open 24 hours a day where students can go for counseling and advice if they are threatened. Jones could not be reached for comment last night.

"Students have been advocating for this all year," the student coalition representative said, adding that the students seem pleased with the meetings so far. "We had a chance to express our concerns, and we feel like we've been heard."

Such a reporting office also was a request of the students who camped out in the HUB-Robeson Center in protest of Penn State's response to diversity issues last spring. The "Village," as the 10-day sit-in became known, came after several black students received death threats. Ricciotti would not comment yesterday on whether the recent e-mails could be connected to last year's threats.

According to one of the victims, this is the first time the victim knows of members of the LGBT community receiving death threats. The victim added, however, that LGBT students have been targets of harassment on campus.

For now, the concerned students are asking all students, especially members of minority groups, to be careful. They also are asking anyone else who might have received threatening messages to contact police.

"Know it's OK to come forward," one of the victims said, adding that the victims have been offered police protection.