White Supremacists Are Targeting Colleges "Like Never Before," Researchers Say

Anti-Defamation League

White supremacists are targeting colleges "like never before," with the number of posters, banners, and other messages on campuses up 258% in 2017, according to a new report by the Anti-Defamation League.

“They see campuses as a fertile recruiting ground, as evident by the unprecedented volume of propagandist activity designed to recruit young people to support their vile ideology," ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

Comparing the fall semester of 2016 (Sept. 1 to Dec. 30) to that of 2017, the ADL found that the number of instances of white supremacists putting up stickers, posters, and banners on college campuses went from 41 to 147, an increase of 258%.

Identity Evropa

The ADL said it had recorded 346 incidents of white supremacists putting up their materials on college campuses since September 2016 across 216 colleges and universities in 44 states, with 147 of those happening in 2017. Texas was hardest hit, with 61 incidents.

One white supremacist group, Identity Evropa, which focuses on colleges almost exclusively, was responsible for 158 of the incidents, according to the report. Vanguard America, the group that the alleged car attacker marched with in the deadly march in Charlottesville, Virginia, posted flyers on campuses 46 times since September 2016, the ADL found. Neither Identity Evropa nor Vanguard America immediately responded to requests for comment.

The ADL said white supremacists may spread messaging about "saving" the white race, or materials meant to attack racial, religious, and sexual minorities.

The materials detailed by the ADL ranged from images like Michelangelo's David, emblazoned with slogans, to more overt symbols, like blood-spattered swastikas.

“While campuses must respect and protect free speech, administrators must also address the need to counter hate groups’ messages and show these bigoted beliefs belong in the darkest shadows, not in our bright halls of learning,” Greenblatt said.

The ADL released a separate report in January that said white supremacists had murdered twice as many people in 2017 as they had in 2016.

The ADL did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.

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