White nationalist fliers removed from University of Tennessee campus

Rachel Ohm
Knoxville

Fliers advocating a white nationalist group were removed from an academic building at the University of Tennessee Knoxville on Thursday after they were found to be in violation of campus policy. 

Ten of these fliers advocating for the white nationalist group the Traditionalist Worker Party were removed from an academic building at the UT Knoxville campus on Thursday, Sept. 28, 2017.

The fliers read, "The most precious possession you have in the world is your own people," and include the cog and pitchfork symbol associated with the Traditionalist Worker Party, a white nationalist group. 

Posted in the Humanities Building

The fliers were posted in the Humanities and Social Sciences Building and were removed Thursday because they were found to be in violation of the campus' literature distribution policy, said UT spokeswoman Karen Simsen. 

The policy requires that any posted literature must be affiliated with a student organization or on-campus department. It does not say anything about hate speech or restricting the types of messages that can be distributed or posted.

Simsen said in an email that the fliers were removed because they did not appear to be posted by a member of the university community and no affiliation was included in the material.  

"I can’t speculate on the 'what ifs' but we have a process for evaluating materials (that are compliant with our Literature Distribution policy) while ensuring that we uphold the First Amendment," Simsen said in response to a question about whether hate speech propaganda would be allowed to be distributed if it met the affiliation requirements.

Rise in hate speech

The incident comes as the role of free speech on college campuses is being debated nationwide, and as universities are grappling with a rise in hate speech incidents.

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The issue came to the forefront following a deadly protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, where hundreds of white supremacists gathered near the University of Virginia campus to protest the city's decision to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in August.

Even before the Charlottesville protest, the Anti-Defamation League, a nonprofit organization dedicated to combating anti-Semitism and racism, reported an increase in hate speech incidents following the election of Donald Trump.

The league reported that Trump's rhetoric during the campaign cycle emboldened white nationalists and led to increases in conflict on college campuses.

"Campuses – and young people – are prime recruitment targets, in part because they are still figuring out who they are, and what they believe," the league said in a July statement. "Extremists also undoubtedly see value in recruiting a new generation that will carry the movement for years to come." 

Kitty Stryker, a speaker brought to campus by the student group Sexual Empowerment and Awareness of Tennessee, or SEAT, said she saw seven or eight of the fliers in the HSS building Tuesday night. 

"As someone who goes to protests a lot in Berkeley and Oakland, California, I recognized the pitchfork icon immediately and pulled the poster down," Stryker said in an email to USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee.

"One of the SEAT organizers saw me and asked what was going on, so I showed her and said, 'This is Nazi propaganda, it's all down the hallway, can we take them down?' So, we did."