Iowa State President Martin Jischke said the university has yet to discover who assaulted a black student security officer early Friday morning.

“At this point, we do not yet know who carried out this act,” he said.

Deantrious Mitchell, a sophomore in computer science, was assaulted Oct. 18 about 2 a.m. by six to eight white men. Mitchell, a native of Waterloo, was subjected to racial slurs during the attack.

The case is being viewed as a hate crime.

Jischke said the university is continuing its investigation. Department of Public Safety officials have contacted the FBI and civil rights agencies to help with the investigation.

There is a $1,200 reward for any information that leads to an arrest of the assailants.

“I hope anyone who has any information [will] please let the DPS know,” Jischke said.

Students say race relations on campus have been tense since the assault, a consequence university officials anticipated last week.

Black professors were encouraged by the administration Friday to talk to black students about the incident in an effort to prevent future violence.

John Anderson, interim director of university relations, said there was an effort to reach leaders of the minority community concerning the incident.

Anderson said officials wanted to let minority students know that the university was heading a serious investigation and was trying to help Mitchell.

“We also wanted to give them information and let them know what was happening,” Anderson said.