FARGO (AP) - North Dakota State University officials are investigating after complaints about a skit in which a black-faced white student portrayed Barack Obama receiving a lap dance.

Presidents of the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club and sorority Alpha Gamma Delta publicly apologized for the skit at an NDSU town hall meeting this week.

The March 18 skit involving the NDSU Saddle and Sirloin Club was performed for 500 people at the Mr. NDSU Pageant, which is sponsored by the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority and raises money for diabetes research.

People who attended said a pageant contestant from Saddle and Sirloin dressed as a woman from the Internet video "I Got a Crush on Obama" and performed for another student who was wearing dark makeup and an afro wig.

In the background, two male students dressed as cowboys simulated anal sex while holding an Obama sign that one student ripped at the conclusion of the 30-second performance.

Malika Carter, an NDSU assistant director of multicultural student services, said students complained the skit was racially insensitive and homophobic.

A hearing officer will decide if the organizations face any sanctions, said Amy Graff, an NDSU associate director for student activities.

"We're trying to find out the right approaches for accountability, but at the same time try to heal wounds that have occurred and allow the campus to move ahead," Janna Stoskopf, NDSU's dean of students, told The Associated Press on Friday.

University President Joseph Chapman said the campus will work to ensure such incidents do not occur.

"The students involved have accepted responsibility for their actions and expressed deep remorse," he said in a statement.

"NDSU does not and will not ignore acts of intolerance at our institution or in our community."

In a written apology, Saddle and Sirloin President Jenna Schmidt said the students were trying to re-enact the YouTube video and did not mean to be offensive.

"We realize that this action was not appropriate, and all involved in the skit have expressed their remorse," she said.

Obama is to speak at the state Democratic Convention in Grand Forks next week. The Obama campaign had no comment Friday.

Russell Danielson, the Saddle and Sirloin Club's adviser, said in the Fargo Forum that the students involved are from rural North Dakota communities with little diversity. He said he plans to talk to NDSU's diversity officer about arranging sensitivity training. The club is for students interested in agriculture.

"It wasn't malicious and it wasn't racist in any way," Danielson said. "They're very apologetic, and they realize the mistake that they made."

Josh Reimnitz, the NDSU student body president, who was in the audience, said some booed the act.

"My jaw just dropped. I didn't even know what to think," Reimnitz said. "I didn't know what the point was of the entire skit."

The skit does not reflect attitudes on campus, Reimnitz said.

"We're still going to be proactive in student government, as far as diversity education and training," he said. "If there are pockets out there that we don't know about, we want to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"It doesn't matter if you're rural. It doesn't matter if you're from Fargo or Beulah, N.D.," said Joy Rice, a black Fargo resident and a member of the city's human relations commission. "You still need to respect people of color, in all aspects of life. This is a form of racism, and it's really taking a step back."

The skit follows a complaint filed against a sorority at the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, where guests wore Indian costumes and red paint on their faces and bodies.

"This falls into the same category," Rice said of the NDSU skit. "It's just as bad."

Stoskopf said she expected an investigation into the incident could take until May 9, the end of the school year.

"One of the issues here is how do we balance what our policies and expectations about behavior are with the issue of freedom of speech," Stoskopf said. "Where does all of that get us?"

NDSU has 10,403 undergraduates. The student body is 92 percent white, while 1.5 percent identify themselves as black or African-American.