ASU denounces 'Whiteness'-fueled hate speech

TEMPE -- After months of silence, Arizona State University is condemning recent activity by White nationalists and "hate preachers" who were responding, in part, to a new class on the "Problem of Whiteness."

James Rund, an ASU administrator who oversees student services at all four ASU campuses, issued a statement with Jake Bennett, director of the Anti-Defamation League in Arizona, and well as representatives from ASU Undergraduate Student Government, ASU Police, Hillel ASU, Tempe Interfaith and almost 20 other co-signers.

"There have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers," the statement begins. "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."

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The statement was published Monday as a letter to the editor in The Arizona Republic.

Some of the activity at issue was sparked by a new ASU course called "U.S. Race Theory & the Problem of Whiteness." The class gained national attention in January and, since then, has been singled out by Fox News commentators and targeted online by White-supremacist groups, and it has spurred small protests and counterprotests in Tempe.

ASU President Michael Crow defended the class and its teacher, assistant professor Lee Bebout, in an interview published last week in the State Press, ASU's student newspaper, but the joint statement marks the first time the university has responded to the recent hate speech and its perpetrators, as a whole.

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In early March, a few supporters of the National Youth Front, a White nationalist group with a Phoenix chapter, protested the class on ASU's Tempe campus. Among them was Harry Hughes, a local member of the White-supremacist National Socialist Movement.

The National Youth Front has also posted fliers on campus advocating a declaration of war against immigration and others, calling Bebout "anti-White."

A handful of ASU students and Tempe residents responded to the activity by protesting and hosting meetings about White nationalists' presence. Meanwhile, students and community members for months have called for a response from ASU.

In unrelated action, a group carrying signs and yelling anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim sentiments demonstrated this month outside the Nile Theater in Mesa, Second Friday Night Out in Mesa, ASU's Tempe campus and a mosque near campus, Bennett said. The group is known to travel the country and speak on college campuses, he said.

The small group stood outside the Islamic Community Center of Tempe and ripped pages out of the Quran, spit and stomped on them, and preached against Islam, calling people in the mosque "infidels" who would "burn in hell."

The statement by ASU officials and others continues: "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."

Although freedom of speech means anyone can visit and speak on campus, Bennett said hate speech on any college campus needs to be condemned swiftly and publicly so that students and community members feel safe.

"Our shared fundamental principles require us to speak out when we see hate around us," the statement said. "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."

According to the Anti-Defamation League, representatives of the league and ASU are planning to train ASU police on extremist groups, with an emphasis on White supremacists, and organize a meeting of community and student leaders to discuss race-related tension on campus. The meeting will likely be in October, Bennett said.

Bebout has received dozens of hostile and hate-filled e-mails about the class, and Tempe police say the instructor suffered harassment when fliers with the phrase "anti-White" printed over a photo of Bebout, who is White, were distributed on campus and in Bebout's neighborhood in Tempe.

"I look forward to your suicide," read one e-mail to Bebout. Another person wrote, "I'd enjoy seeing you swing from a light pole."

Crow defended Bebout and the course to the State Press last week.

"The professor was not attempting to be derogatory toward any group or any race," Crow said. "He was trying to look at the literary concept of an idea of race described by color. That's the kind of course we should be teaching."

Read the full statement here.