[B]URLINGTON — Posters stating “It’s okay to be white” were put up anonymously at the University of Vermont and in other public spaces across the country Tuesday.
Five posters were found on the UVM campus and two were torn down before 8:30 a.m., according to The Vermont Cynic, the student newspaper. The posters match those found at high schools and colleges nationally in their font and message.
According to The Washington Post, the idea for the posters began in a thread on the online chatroom “4chan” a few weeks ago. It was later developed as a plan to popularize white nationalist ideology, the Post reported Tuesday.
The person who posted the idea to “4chan” wrote that the purpose would be to fuel a response from the political left that would convince centrists and those who lean right-of-center that people on the left “hate white people,” according to the Post. The fliers are part of an increase in similar campaigns by white nationalist groups, the Post said.
The university said in a statement to VTDigger that it removed the signs because they violated posting policy.
“To the extent that the signs were intended to promote a white nationalist ideology, as news reports have suggested, we condemn the activity in the strongest possible terms,” the university said, “as it is completely antithetical to our core university values.”
UVM’s campus is seeing tensions over race and social justice issues.
Sophomore Wesley Richter, 20, was cited into court to face a disorderly conduct charge last month after someone reported overhearing him make a threat against blacks.
A group of 13 student leaders backed by more than 200 students has been negotiating with the UVM administration for the past two months. Negotiations began with the group’s list of demands and a 200-person march toward the president’s office.
The original list demanded the expulsion of a student accused of stealing a “Black Lives Matter” flag in September 2016. The administration kept his identity private for nine months until documents obtained by UVM’s student newspaper revealed the student, J.T. Reichhelm, had admitted taking the flag. The administration’s response triggered a first draft of the demands in May.
