Latino IU student: ‘We’re not intimidated’ by white supremacist fliers
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) – Indiana University students and faculty said Tuesday they will not be intimidated by fliers posted on campus promoting a white supremacy group.
Someone posted the fliers Monday night in various spots around campus, including a wing of Ballantine Hall dedicated to ethnic studies. Campus police said the fliers were also slid under the doors of minority staff members’ offices.
Valerie Grim, a professor of African American studies, said someone wrote the group’s name on a dry-erase board outside her classroom door.
“What a symbol like that does to me, is to say, you have to stand even more determinately to let them know and any other group know that you’re not afraid to talk about who you are,” Grim said.
The group named on the fliers claims online to have posted similar flyers on dozens of campuses across the country. They call themselves an “organization dedicated to promoting the interests of People of European Heritage.”
Stephanie Huezo, an IU graduate student of Latin American history, photographed the fliers and shared them online. One of the group’s fliers was taped next to a poster hung by a staff member supporting immigrants and refugees.
“It felt like an attack on non-white people,” Huezo said. “We’re not intimidated and we will continue doing the work that we do. That’s not going to stop us.”
IU Executive Vice President Lauren Robel sent a statement to students condemning racism. It reads, in part, “We will not be divided by cowards. This is a university. We discuss ideas in the full light of day.”
Robel said the university notified the FBI and IUPD is investigating.
IUPD spokesperson Lt. Andy Stephenson said it’s “questionable” whether any laws were broken in posting the flyers. IUPD does not consider the fliers threatening, according to Stephenson.
The fliers have now been taken down.
Grim, however, is keeping one in her office. She plans to use it to help teach a lesson to her African American history class.