UC wants 'white students union' page shut down

A Facebook page claiming to be the University of Cincinnati White Students Union is not a student organization and the university wants the page shut down, President Santa Ono said.

"While our university as a public institution and an academic community has an obligation to protect First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, we want to be clear that our university does not endorse this organization or its attempts to polarize us or distract us from thoughtful and serious discussion of the racial issues that our institution and our nation face," Ono said in a statement emailed to students, faculty and staff.

The UC Trademarks and Licensing Director has asked the Collegiate Licensing company to request Facebook remove the site due to the unauthorized use of the university's trademark, Ono said.

The group claiming to be UC's follows in the virtual footsteps of other such pages created with the names of colleges across the country at a time when race relations have become a point of tension on campuses.

A user on the publishing platform Medium put together an "incomplete" list of 30 white student group Facebook pages supposedly created at universities including Ohio State, Michigan State, and Princeton in the past three days. The pages surfaced after "white supremacists with large Twitter followings" began calling for people to create them, according to the Medium post.

When a similar Facebook page surfaced at the University of Illinois, campus officials called its intimidation of black students "disturbing" and requested it be removed from the social media site.

A person insisting on anonymity and reached through Facebook claimed the group had nine student members at UC. None have been named or come forward, however.

"These are people who appear to be playing games and are trying to create or stir up controversy to get more attention than they deserve," Greg Vehr, UC spokesperson said.

The group using the UC name was "inspired" by the white student union at the University of Illinois, according to a Facebook post that mirrors posts from other "White Student Union" groups. It states hope that "our initiative will move our brothers and sisters across the country to do the same."

A person who responded to a message sent by The Enquirer to the UC White Student Union page identified themselves only as a recent UC graduate who studied political science. The person would not give his or her, name saying they feared for their safety after being threatened. The person wanted to be identified by the nickname "Wojak" due to what he or she said was Polish ancestry. "Wojak" is a Polish word meaning soldier.

The person, who claims to the the group's founder and president, said he or she has been in contact with the other white student unions that have popped up on Facebook but claimed they are not affiliated.

"The purpose of our organization is to create a safe place for people of European ancestry to discuss issues important to European/White identity," the person said in an email. "We hope that it lays the groundwork for future generations of European peoples going forward into our multicultural future where European people will no longer be a majority and will need an organization to provide a voice for them."

The person defined European as someone who is white and has origins in Europe and said nonwhites cannot be European-Americans but can still support the UC White Student Union. "We welcome allies of all races," the person wrote.

The person said the group is working to become an official student organization at UC and currently has nine members, some of whom are UC students. Its Facebook page has more than 120 likes.

"With open borders immigration, multiculturalism, Islamification of Europe, and the rise in racial tensions over the past few years, we felt it was necessary to form an organization dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of Europeans in the United States and around the world," the person wrote.

Social media was abuzz with reactions to the group's page. Some commenters thanked the group for it's "honesty" and "bravery." Others called organizers "insane" and said the page is "full of hate and ignorance is a backlash of black student progress."

The president of the UC Student Body decried the Facebook page.

"This page has no affiliation with the University of Cincinnati, a place which many students call home," Andrew Naab wrote in a prepared statement. "We are strongly committed to preserving the constitutional rights of our students to free speech and assembly embodied in the First Amendment of the Constitution. However, per this nonnegotiable freedom, I implore you, as a fellow Bearcat, to exercise that right when you encounter or see examples of racism and discrimination on our campus."

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The person who said he or she is behind the group's formation said it began organizing months before the Irate 8, a black student activist group, was formed. However, the organization's first Facebook post is dated Friday, Nov. 20, two days after the Irate 8 held a silent protest on campus.

Facebook posts from the UC White Student Union call the Irate 8's demands for campus reform "silly" and criticize the Black Lives Matter movement as making "part of their identity about hating white people."

The Irate 8 did not respond to The Enquirer's request for comment.

"What our group is doing is no different than what other student groups do on a daily basis," the person behind the White Student Union Facebook page said. "No one would dare call Black, Hispanic, Jewish, or Asian student groups racist for simply existing. It would appear that a double standard exists when it comes to white students advocating for their own interests."