Arizona State University condemned the backlash to a course on the “problem of whiteness” for the first time in public on Monday, months after the class rose to national attention and its professor received threats from white supremacists.
ASU administrator James Rund criticized “hate speech” incidents that have occurred on campus this semester in a joint statement with Jake Bennett, the director of Arizona’s Anti-Defamation League, and George Dean, the president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Urban League.
“There have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers,” read the statement, published in The Arizona Republic. “This behavior and these sentiments do not reflect the values of our community.”
The statement didn’t specify which incidents the signers were referring to. But as TPM has previously reported, a white nationalist group called the National Youth Front launched a campaign against the class that involved flooding ASU President Michael Crow with emails, distributing fliers branding the course’s professor, Lee Bebout, as “Anti-White,” and protesting the course on campus.
The Arizona Republic also pointed to anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim demonstrations that took place this month on or near ASU’s Tempe and Mesa campuses as an impetus for the statement.
Crow also addressed the backlash to the “problem of whiteness” class last week in an interview with the university’s student newspaper, The State Press.
“These individuals outside the University who said these things, they can say whatever they want,” Crow told the publication. “We repudiate what they say, but we can’t stop them from saying it; they can say whatever they want.”
Read the full statement below via the Arizona Republic:
There have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers. Some of the incidents included anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim speech and intimidation. This behavior and these sentiments do not reflect the values of our community.
We the undersigned have joined together to express our opposition to the presence and activities of hate groups in our community. We are deeply concerned about recent manifestations of hate. As community leaders, we have united to underscore our common value of working together to create a community of respect.
Our shared fundamental principles require us to speak out when we see hate around us. Ignoring the presence of hate speech, with its accompanying literature and social media does not make its vile message disappear. We will not sit idly by when hate raises its ugly head in our community. Not only are we united in denouncing hate, but we are united in supporting a community that is committed to the free exchange of ideas, the principles of inclusion and the celebration of diversity.
— Jake Bennett, ADL Arizona
— James Rund, ASU administration
—George Dean, Urban League
—And 22 other co-signers
