White supremacist group flyer found on campus bulletin board
The public bulletin board where Hillman senior Riley Applegren found a white supremacy group advertisement in North Art Studio on April 9.
Riley Appelgren was exiting North Art Studio after working with ceramics on April 9 when she saw a flyer printed with the Star of David and communism symbol on the studio's bulletin board.
"It just kinda looked out of place," the Hillman senior said.
Taking a closer look, she saw the flyer advertised a website for the group Patriot Front. It's a group the Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit group that is the country's most famous hate-group watchdog, calls a neo-Nazi network run by an 18-year-old Texas man. Patriot Front was founded in November 2017 and has placed similar flyers on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor and Flint campuses.
Its website includes a manifesto and an application to join the group. The group's manifesto concludes, "We bring forth the traditions of our past imbued with new vigor to bring us closer to our grand vision. Our tradition is revolution, and our land is where tyrants come to die."
"I went to the website and saw that it was a white supremacy group," she said. "I felt the university should know, so I tweeted it at them."
A tweet she posted after she found the advertisement reads, "@CMUniversity What is Neo-Nazi and white supremacy propaganda doing on campus bulletins?"
Central Michigan University Police Lt. Cameron Wassman said nobody has contacted the department with complaints of finding other white supremacist advertisements on campus.
Associate Vice President of Student Affairs Anthony Voisin asked how the flyer got on the bulletin board. Voisin noted the design and colors of the flyer wouldn't likely have been printed in small amounts and felt finding a single flyer was "weird."
"If it was an organization, they would’ve put it on multiple boards," Voisin said.
Central Michigan University's official advocacy policy states:
- "Printed materials placed upon a General Purpose Bulletin Board will be removed after the event being announced has taken place, or within 30 days after its initial posting, whichever is sooner, so that other persons or groups may have access to the limited Bulletin Board space."
If other flyers had been distributed throughout campus and cleaned per policy and North Art Studio's had been neglected, Voisin said that would be the responsibility of the respective building coordinator.
Voisin said there's no approval process for flyers on public bulletin boards like there is for departmental or residence hall bulletin boards.
"Public bulletin boards are — public," Voisin said. "Anyone can post anything they want. No matter how offensive a flyer may be, if it’s on a public bulletin board, it’s permissible.”
For students who take offense to such flyers, Voisin said there should be more discussion, conversation and organizing of demonstrations.
“Someone taught me this years and years ago: ‘Issues like this are best addressed through more speech, not less speech,'" he said. "(Students should say) this is not what we stand for, this is not what we believe in."
