N.C. State student leaders said the the people who painted racist remarks in the university's "Free Expression Tunnel" should be punished, but stopped short of asking for them to be expelled.

The incident happened two weeks ago when racist grafitti about president elect-Barack Obama was written in that tunnel. Since that time, the school has been dealing with the back lash.

Wednesday night, the student senate met to consider what to do about the incident.

Before the meeting started, one student senator walked in with a petition containing over 600 signatures demanding the offending students be expelled despite their written apologies which have since appeared on the school’s Web site.

“It would be like if my father murdered my mother and then wrote an apology letter,” said senator  Maritza Adonis. Iit wouldn't change the fact that he committed a crime.

Before debate began, assistant N.C. State track coach Chris Coleman urged senators to do the right thing, saying the hate speech in the tunnel has hurt the school's reputation nationally among students he's trying to recruit.

“Every student has a monetary value on them, and this student coming from out of state paying $25,000. If I cannot tell her that the school is safe, in good conscience, that's money out the door,” said Coleman.

At one point in the debate, a student senator quoted the chancellor's  statement saying there is no legal ground to expel the students because it was not a hate crime under state statutes. Because of that, the senators were told by their  colleague they had no authority to vote on expulsion.

After nearly two hours of debate, the senate voted  48-1  to urge punishment, community service, and  review of the university's policies.

“I'm highly disappointed and embarrassed to be part of N.C. state and the student senate,” said Sen Adonis following the vote.

But other student leaders say, it was the right call.

“It wasn't our place to recommend one specific thing,’’ said President Pro-Tempore Kellie  Rogers.  “No matter what the history is behind the actions, they do need to be encouraged to take diversity classes other things like that to educate them.”