DEERFIELD, ILL. ? Authorities at a Christian university near Chicago moved dozens of black and Hispanic students to a hotel for their own safety and police stepped up patrols on campus Friday after three people received threatening, racist letters.

One parent said the letters were sent to white women dating black athletes at 3,300-student Trinity International University, but school officials denied there was any connection to interracial dating.

Police and school officials would not discuss the threats in detail but said two of the letters were sent on notebook paper through the campus’ internal mail system, and professors were being asked to try to identify the handwriting.

“This is a diverse campus,” university spokesman Gary Cantwell said. “We condemn any kind of intolerance. We assume this is an isolated incident and not representative of the college.”

The letters were addressed to specific students and arrived over the past two weeks, Cantwell said. The most recent letter, shown to campus administrators and police Thursday, threatened violence with a weapon, Bannockburn Police Chief Kevin Tracz said. The letters will be sent to a crime lab to be analyzed for DNA evidence and fingerprints, Tracz said.

Because the threats came within days of the anniversaries of the Columbine High School shootings, the Oklahoma City bombing and Adolf Hitler’s birthday, the school suggested that all minority students be given the option of staying in a hotel, the police chief said.

Dean of Students William Washington said he and 43 students spent the night at a hotel, while others who are from the area stayed with family or friends.

Classes went on as scheduled, with police cars patrolling the streets and campus security guards keeping reporters from talking to students. About 20 students stood outside during their lunch break, holding hands and praying.

Students join hands in prayer Friday at Trinity International University in Deerfield, Ill. A spokesman at the small Christian university said students throughout school were praying in response to racially motivated hate mail received by three of its students.

Officials who examined the letters believe it is the act of one person, Cantwell said.

The threats were aimed at students in the university’s undergraduate Trinity College, where more than 20 percent of the 1,000 enrolled are minorities.