Buies Creek, N.C. — Students at Campbell University found racial slurs stuck to the doors of a dormitory Monday, the day set aside nationally to honor the civil rights legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.

Sophomore Otis Evans said he had returned from class about noon Monday when he saw yellow notes stuck to doors in his dorm hallway. "Happy (racial slur) Day" was written on each note, he said.

"When I saw it, I was shocked," Evans said. "I didn't know what to think. I just stood there for a second because I really couldn't believe what I had just seen."

The notes were on five doors on the first floor of Small Hall. Authorities said the notes appeared to be placed at random, since none of the dorm rooms housed African-American students.

Small Hall doesn't have security cameras in the hallway, but entry requires a swipe card.

John Roberson, Campbell's vice president of marketing, described the private Baptist university as a diverse campus and said administrators were taking the incident seriously.

"We deeply regret this," Roberson said. "When the perpetrator is found, we will prosecute that perpetrator to the fullest extent of our university honor code and policy."

Campbell administrators were trying to determine which Small Hall residents weren't in class Monday morning to see who might have information about the incident.

Students said the notes stunned and angered them.

"For somebody to just come along and tarnish everything that you're working hard for, not only as a student, but as a black student in a majority white university, what do you say to something like that? I mean, it was dumbfounding,” sophomore Harold Sims said.

“It really surprised me because this is 2008. It was MLK Day. This is Campbell, (which) stands on honor and Christian values,” junior LaRonda Mays-Soles said.