AMES, Ia. — Finding neo-Nazi writings on Iowa State University's campus was the last straw Wednesday for local protest organizers.

Citing a string of racist incidents, between 100 and 200 people gathered at President Wendy Wintersteen's Beardshear Hall office in the afternoon. Wintersteen was at a meeting elsewhere but paused to join a phone conversation with the protesters, according to ISU sophomore Alexa Rodriguez.

ISU senior Javier Miranda and Rodriguez said they decided something needed to be done after messages such as "Heil Hitler," "no trans rights," and anti-Semitic slogans were scrawled in chalk throughout campus last week.

"I think the pressure was there," Rodriguez said. "I think what made it even more powerful was the fact that we'd gone into a room and it was students of all backgrounds talking about the issue."

Rodriguez said planning aided Wednesday's protests.

"We've done protests before and nothing changes. The local media has picked it up, nothing changes. These posts about the racist incidents go viral and nothing changes," Rodriguez said. "We decided, 'Hey, we need to make this big, we need to call attention to this to have that power to then have the administration listen to us.'"

Campus organizations Pride Alliance, Hillel, Lambda Theta Alpha and NAACP participated in a march starting from the Memorial Union to Beardshear, which houses administrative offices including the president's.

The messages written outside this week come after other episodes that produced criticism this fall.

The Iowa State Daily reported Oct. 24 that Iowa State Student Government adviser Alex Krumm posted on social media a photo of himself with his face painted black for a theater production at another college. He later removed the photo.

Brian Behnken, an associate professor of history, said a residence hall adviser found a sign on her floor altered so it read "beaner" instead of "bean"; she believed she was targeted because of her race.

Posters and stickers advocating white nationalist viewpoints have surfaced on campus on multiple occasions starting in 2016.

Behnken attended Wednesday's student-led event, he said, after watching the same issues re-emerge multiple times during his 10 years at Iowa State.

When speaking of racial tension on campus, members of the Iowa State community often bring up a 2015 incident in which a Donald Trump supporter ripped a sign out of the hands of someone protesting the presidential candidate's visit to a football game.

In 2018, a racist wireless internet connection popped up on phones not far from campus. Police said they couldn't investigate the issue.

Wintersteen initially spoke only to a couple of organizers, who urged her to speak to the room of students waiting for her. She said she had guests waiting for her at the meeting, to which Rodriguez countered, "Yeah, so are your students."

Miranda and Rodriguez said Wintersteen repeated messages from an Oct. 23 email sent to the university community but also assured students she would follow up.

Wintersteen's office sent an emailed statement from the president in response to Wednesday's protest.

"I am proud of our students for standing up against bigotry and racism and for exercising their First Amendment rights. I join with them in condemning racism, white supremacy, and xenophobia. … We will continue to work with our students to make sure their voices are heard and they feel supported.”

Iowa State police were not immediately available Wednesday afternoon to comment on if the incidents are being investigated.

Danielle Gehr is a breaking news reporter at the Des Moines Register. She can be reached by email at dgehr@dmreg.com, by phone at 515-284-8367 or on Twitter at @Dani_Gehr.

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