Students are fighting back at what they say is a rise in anti-Semitism on the Alabama university campus.
Students at Alabama's Auburn University are speaking out after white nationalist leader Richard Spencer announced an upcoming speech on campus, where a "White Student Union" has also been distributing materials.
Spencer is president of white supremacist think tank National Policy Institute and a leader of the alt-right movement. He has called for "peaceful ethnic cleansing" of non-white Americans.
Spencer rose to prominence during the annual NPI conference in November in Washington, DC, when he gave a speech full of Nazi-inspired language, greeting attendees with a salute of "Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!" and calling the media "Lügenpresse" (essentially the Nazi term for "fake news"). He also found viral fame when he got punched in the face on Inauguration Day.
The April 18 speech by Spencer was not planned by the Alabama university. Rather, Spencer reportedly paid $700 to use the space, as well as security provided by Auburn Police Division, a university spokesperson told al.com.
"We are a public university and our meeting space is for rent," Mike Clardy, a spokesperson for Auburn, told the news website. "Auburn supports the constitutional right to free speech, so we don't make decisions on who can rent based on content."
In a statement, university officials say they "strongly deplore" Spencer's views and "encourage the campus community to respond to speech they find objectionable with their own views in civil discourse and to do so with respect and inclusion."
David J. Phillip / AP
The announcement of Spencer's speech came on the heels of the forming of an "Auburn White Student Union," which covered the campus in anti-Semitic flyers late last week, right before Passover.
"The agenda of a 'White Student Union' is very similar to white nationalism," explained Lecia Brooks, the outreach director for Southern Poverty Law Center, to BuzzFeed News. "It’s kind of wrapped in the false equivalency between Black Student Unions and White Student Unions."
"People get caught up...like, ‘Oh well, Black Student Union, Latino Student Union, what’s the difference?'" she said. "Well, one is based in white supremacy and the other is not. The other is more of a cultural support group and cultural enrichment, where as White Student Unions are based in white supremacy."
The group — which is unofficial and not sanctioned by the university — calls itself "Whites of the Alt-Right Empowering Auburn Gentiles for Liberation and Enlightenment," an acronym for "War Eagle," the school motto.
The flyers include a link to AuburnWhiteStudentUnion.com, a website that lays out the group's goals and principles: advocating for "White people with a White future," and advocating against tolerance, diversity, and "lies of radical (Jewish-invented) feminism."
"Black-White Integration has failed miserably, and our country becomes ever more divided the more non-Whites it has," reads the website.
"Fortunately, we White conservatives are becoming increasingly energized and assertive following our victory in the Presidential election, and enjoying the wonderful freedom and clarity of purpose that comes with openly identifying as pro-White," it says.
The website provides no way to sign up for the group, but urges people who want to get involved to distribute flyers, such as the ones above, on campus. The flyers are no longer available on the site.
It also explains levels of membership: trial membership ("extended to people of White ancestry and good character"), full membership (which allows anonymity), and auxiliary membership ("for allies" with "some affinity for White culture").
The website calls Hillel, the world's largest Jewish campus organization, "blatantly treasonous" and dedicates multiple paragraphs to an imagined scene of a rabbi with "bushy eyebrows," "a 6-shaped nose," "a guttural accent," and a "hand covered in sparkling jewels."
In addition to the flyers, Auburn trademarks were later removed from the site, and a disclaimer was added noting the group is not officially affiliated with the university.
Mike Clardy, assistant vice president of university communications, told The Plainsman that Auburn would investigate the possibility of trademark violations.
Brooks, of the SPLC, said they do not know who the group's members are — or even if it is actually a group.
"It could be an individual, a couple of individuals, who have picked up on the White Nationalist movement that’s taking place on college campuses today," she said.
Despite a New York address that is listed, the website was created in Florida, Bobby Woodard, vice president for student affairs and associate provost, told students on Tuesday.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/2pfITyI
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