Nearly one out of four cases of white supremacist propaganda reported on U.S. college campuses this school year occurred in Texas, according to a Jewish civil rights group.

That includes an incident at Texas State University in which eight people were cited for trespassing on campus in the middle of the night to post racist fliers and one at Southern Methodist University in which social media posts showed men giving the Nazi salute in front of a banner calling for white men to "save your people" and to reject the opioid beast.

The Anti-Defamation League tracked 292 cases nationwide where racist or white supremacist material or fliers were found at colleges and universities from September through May, a 77 percent increase from the previous school year.

Of those, 67 incidents were in Texas — the highest of any state. That's more than double the number of incidents in the state last year — 29. One of the incidents in the previous year is a case where fliers at the University of Texas at Arlington called for all "white Americans" to call federal authorities to report unauthorized immigrants.

"Texas remains one of the hardest hit areas because it has some of the most active branches of these groups," said Jessica Reaves, senior writer for the ADL's Center on Extremism.

Reaves said the group began tracking data on the incidents in 2016 after seeing a spike in such activity. Previously the group had only received sporadic reports of such incidents.

"We've seen it sort of snowball since September 2016. That's what's really disconcerning," Reaves said. "These groups are embolden by what they're hearing in politics in the general public. Many have the sense that they need to strike while the iron is hot because they see this as their moment."

Reaves noted that public colleges and universities have been hit particularly hard by white supremacist groups because they must adhere to broader interpretations of free speech, while private schools have more flexibility to set parameters on material that violates their core mission.

In January, state lawmakers held a public hearing on Texas State University's campus to discuss free speech issues. This came after protests at several schools when controversial speakers were set to talk.

In April 2017, for example, officials cancelled a planned speech by "alt-right" figure Richard Spencer, who planned to visit Texas A&M University. Officials cited safety concerns after an organizer linked the speech to the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.

Officials across higher education have had to consider both free speech and safety issues when such hate speech arises, Reaves said.

SMU officials denounced the material on its campus saying the outside group posting it was opposite to SMU's values. UT-Arlington took down the fliers that had not been approved for display as all postings must be submitted through the school's Office of Student Activities and Organizations.

At Texas State University, officials plan to hold a series of discussions in the upcoming school year to talk about free speech and when it crosses the line into threats that make others on campus fear for their safety.

Joanne Smith, the university's vice president of student affairs, said the campus had to increase security after the October incident, when which fliers posted across campus included references to the phrase "blood and soil" that is associated with Nazi Germany.

Smith noted that like other schools across the nation, the campus has seen more of such propaganda though most have been smaller incidents. That's something she hadn't experienced before in her more than 20 years at Texas State.

"People want to create this dialogue and create a sense of fear," she said. "You can buy into it or you can have healthy conversations about what does this mean and basically stand up against some of the things you feel are detrimental to the campus community and to each other."