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White student unions

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White Student Unions are student organizations that aim to represent the interests of white students on university and college campuses. In 2015 many new WSU Facebook profiles appeared and media, after speaking with universities, first reported that they were hoaxes, that they were not condoned by the universities themselves. Neo-Nazi blog, The Daily Stormer, suggested followers create white unions, though some union leaders who claim they are unaffiliated, have since stepped forward and given statements about their mandates.[1][2][3][4][5] While earlier WSU's were white supremacist in nature, newer unions are mixed in their ideologies and many disavow any connection to white supremacy, stating that they are fighting, instead, for safe spaces on campus for white students who feel whiteness is being stigmatized and also that white people are being silenced and excluded from the dialogue of race and whiteness.[2][3][4][4][6][7]

History

1960s and 1970s

The first White Student Unions and similar organizations were initially born of the white separatist movement.[8] In the 1960s, a White Student League was formed by white supremacist Tom Metzger and his father, but it dissipated in the 1970s. In 1979, Greg Withrow incorporated Metzger's Aryan Youth Movement into the White Student Union as a "militant extension of the student struggle."[8] Sacramento State University started the first one, and it extended to as many as 20 chapters across the United States.[9]

1980s and 1990s

White Student Unions were organized at Temple University in 1988 and at Florida State University in 1989. Temple University "was forced to recognize it because it already recognized a host of all-minority institutions," Dinesh D'Souza wrote in 1991.[10]

In 1992, a White Student Union, with "avowedly White supremacist goals," was formed at the University of Minnesota. The university banned the group, but after debates about the First Amendment, the ban was lifted and the group was allowed to register as a student organization.[11]

2014-2015

In 2015, a number of White Student Union pages emerged on social media platforms as Facebook, some apparently in response to a call to action on The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website; some experts have said that the pages also seem to have been coordinated on 4chan.[1][12][13] Most coverage has described these as hoaxes, and universities have asked that online groups remove any university insignia.[14][15]

The people behind these Facebook accounts say they are real and that they are the product of students on campus who want safe spaces for white students who feel stigmatized and silenced; but some claims, have been met with skepticism over their natural, purpose, and goals.[16] Matthew Heimbach, who says he is the founder of the White Student Union at Towson University, for example, says that he is not racist; but critics point to his group's patrols against supposed "black predators" as evidence of racism. Defending the patrols, Heimbach writes that "White Southern men," he wrote, "have long been called to defend their communities when law enforcement and the State seem unwilling to protect our people."[17] These unions have generally[citation needed] been extremely critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying that protesters are exhibiting "explicit hostility to white students, faculty, and culture."[18]

Other WSU leaders who have made statements about their union mandates, have no reported history of white supremacy and claim they are seeking safe spaces for white people who feel that whiteness is being stigmatized and white people are being silenced.[2][3][4][4][6][7] UBC's White Student Union in British Columbia, has explained in interview, that their goal as a student group, is to provide "a safe space for white students to air their true feelings," promote a vision "in which every ethnic group has the right to organise and represent themselves and their interests" and destigmatize white culture. The executive committee "meet[s] in a quiet corner of a Vancouver-area library" and "aren’t all white." [19][20][21] The WSU at NYU state, that they feel stigmatized and "[w]hen people say that Students of Whiteness don't face any unique challenges or obstacles we should think about this". "White students are the only group to be labeled as ‘problematic’ simply for existing and to have University classes dedicated to attacking their identity."[4][22] One South East Asian board member on the UBC executive noted, that "I think it’s an injustice ...the stigmatization of whiteness....[which] prevents us from having honest conversations about things that are important."[3][23] University of Central Florida WSU leaders feel as though they are being held accountable for the sins of their ancestors because they are white and state, that “We are not a racist or white supremacist organization… But we will not apologize for being white. We will not self-flagellate for the sins of our ancestors. We will not be emotionally blackmailed to go along with the displacement of white people and culture in the name of ‘diversity’ or ‘equality."[6] Leadership from UT Auston's White Student Union told reporters that “some white students feel as though they are drowning in an anti-white narrative."[24] NYU WSU leaders also stated, that they want to "reclaim[] the word whiteness and not let[] the campus thought police define [their] identities for [them].”[13]

Some of the unions are also posting demands. A UCSB WSU in California, for instance, have posted demands on Facebook for university funding and campus police support and scheduled a "White Student Walk Out" for the 19th of January 2016 to voice issues.[25]

Reaction to Facebook pages

Media coverage has stated that the sudden eruption of Facebook pages purporting to represent White Student Unions is largely a hoax created by readers of the neo-Nazi blog The Daily Stormer after its founder, Andrew Anglin, urged followers to create them.[1][26][27] Many universities responded by contacting Facebook and having union pages removed.[28] Other experts have identified the origina of some pages as a hoax by members of 4chan, a popular imageboard, citing posts there instructing users to create the pages and take screenshots of the reaction, and comparing it to similar hoaxes the website produced in the past.[12][13]

People who say they lead student organizations at the University of Central Florida,[18] University of British Columbia,[20] Western University,[29] University of California Santa Barbara,[30] New York University, Towson University[31] and the University of Southern Queensland[32] have made statements on their mandates. Leaders who run the UBC WSU Facebook page say that that they also "want to provoke a serious conversation," and insist they are not hoaxers" and "deny that the page came about as a result of direction from outside Vancouver... founders all know each other in the real world."[20] The University of Missouri WSU states, that "the Mizzou White Student Union is a real group... who attend the University of Missouri. We are currently in the process of applying for recognition from the university."[33] A person claiming to be a WSU administrator has said that they have received death threats[34] and a posting on a Facebook page claiming to represent an NYU white student union says that they "were forced to cancel meetings".[35]

When contacted by The Guardian, the people behind some of these pages denied a connection to Anglin and white supremacy. While the people who run the UCB WCU Facebook page have been contacted by white supremacists, they maintain, that they do not identify with that kind of outlook.[20] The people who run the UT Austin, North Carolina and UC Berkley pages all told the Guardian, that they are not affiliated with Anglin or white supremacy. Those who run the North Carolina page said,"that we denounce Anglin’s call for ‘dummy’ WSUs" and said they do not want to be associated with Anglin’s blog "The Stormer". They claim that Anglin "really makes [them] cringe" and "cheapens what we are doing". The people who run the UCLA WSU Facebook page said, that Anglin’s "views and website are not at all representative of what we believe."[1] A post to a Facebook page that says it represents an WSU at NYU, stated that they do "not support racialized hate of any kind. Th[eir] page is about celebrating whiteness, not denigrating others." They "hope that other groups can agree with this and come together to support all students of all colors celebrating their identity."[35] The people behind these pages, however, declined to identify themselves or to use their student accounts to confirm that they were members of the colleges they said they represented.[1]

Response from the academic community has been mixed. One NYU professor, María Josefina Saldaña Portillo, said that that it was a mistake to compare white-advocacy organizations to ones intended for minorities, saying "the celebration of whiteness as a race has a particular history of racial violence, and exclusion"[1] Canadian university professor Ricardo Duchesne, however, defended the groups, saying that there is a "double standard in the media and academia against white and European pride." Black and Asian students are permitted student unions but white students are not.[36][37]

Though WSU posters at the University of Toronto were taken down, the university maintains that it did not remove them. A spokesperson stated, that the university was committed to free speech. The university website contains a "commitment to a learning and working environment free from prohibited discrimination and harassment...[but stated, that]... these rights … are meaningless unless they entail the right to raise deeply disturbing questions and provocative challenges to the cherished beliefs of society at large and of the university itself."[38]

See also

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References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Dozens of 'white student unions' appear on social media amid racism protests".
  2. ^ a b c York, Jamiles Lartey in New. "Dozens of 'white student unions' appear on social media amid racism protests". the Guardian. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  3. ^ a b c d "'We trolled so hard we became real': meet the founders of UBC's White Student Union". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "NYU White Student Union Facebook page is a fake, school says". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  5. ^ "UCF White Student Union Sparks Controversy". 90.7 WMFE. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  6. ^ a b c "Jessica Bryce". 90.7 WMFE. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  7. ^ a b "Western investigating 'White Student Union' page". London. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  8. ^ a b Dobratz, Betty A.; Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L. (2000). The White Separatist Movement in the United States: "White Power, White Pride!". Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 69.
  9. ^ Willie, Charles Vert; Garibaldi, Antoine M. (1991). The Education of African-Americans. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 172. ISBN 0-86569-020-0.
  10. ^ D'Souza, Dinesh (1991). Illiberal Education: The Politics of Race and Sex on Campus. Simon & Schuster. p. 269. ISBN 0-684-86384-7.
  11. ^ Zanna, Mark P.; Olson, James M. (2013). The Psychology of Prejudice: The Ontario Symposium. Psychology Press. p. 51.
  12. ^ a b Kate Dubinski, Postmedia Network (24 November 2015). "'White Student Union' Facebook group stirs controversy, skepticism on Western University campus - National Post". National Post. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  13. ^ a b c "NYU White Student Union Facebook page is a fake, school says". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  14. ^ "White student union Facebook groups on Canadian campuses appear to be a hoax". 24 November 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  15. ^ ABC News. "Facebook Pages Purporting To Represent 'White Student Unions' Spark Backlash On College Campuses". ABC News. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  16. ^ "Public Statement on Campus (Un)Safety by some concerned graduate students at the Institute of Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice". Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  17. ^ Enzinna, Wes (January 22, 2014). "White Student Union". VICE. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  18. ^ a b "UCF White Student Union Sparks Controversy". 90.7 WMFE. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  19. ^ "Canadian universities say white student union Facebook groups appear to be a hoax". www.cbc.ca. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  20. ^ a b c d "'We trolled so hard we became real': meet the founders of UBC's White Student Union". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  21. ^ "'We trolled so hard we became real': Meet the founders of UBC's White Student Union". nvs24.com. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  22. ^ "NYU: 'White Student Union' Facebook page fake". WNYW. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  23. ^ "'We trolled so hard we became real': Meet the founders of UBC's White Student Union". nvs24.com. Retrieved 2016-01-01.
  24. ^ York, Jamiles Lartey in New. "Dozens of 'white student unions' appear on social media amid racism protests". the Guardian. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  25. ^ "'UCSB White Student Union' Plans Demonstration, Generates Backlash". www.independent.com. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  26. ^ "Western investigating 'White Student Union' page". London. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  27. ^ "White student unions are based on a misunderstanding that anti-racism means anti-white". The Conversation. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  28. ^ "White Student Union Facebook pages spread nationwide". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
  29. ^ "Hotline Bling in heaven, and other things that were fake online this week". Global News. https://plus.google.com/+GlobalnewsCaHeadlines. Retrieved 2015-12-31. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ "'UCSB White Student Union' Plans Demonstration, Generates Backlash". www.independent.com. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  31. ^ "White Student Union | VICE | Canada". VICE. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  32. ^ "'Racist' student movement condemned by USQ". Chronicle. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  33. ^ "Unofficial Mizzou 'White Student Union' raises hackles". kansascity. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
  34. ^ "Western Campus Police Investigating White Student Union Facebook Page | (CFPL AM) AM 980". Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  35. ^ a b "NYU: 'White Student Union' Facebook page fake". WNYW. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  36. ^ Sachgau, Oliver (2015-09-14). "The posters, promoting a white students union, surfaced on three Toronto university campuses, but were pulled down soon after going up". The Toronto Star. ISSN 0319-0781. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  37. ^ "Toronto universities take down flyers promoting white students' union". The Globe and Mail. https://plus.google.com/+globeandmail. Retrieved 2015-12-30. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  38. ^ "Chris Selley: University: Where debate about even a silly 'white students union' goes to die". National Post. Retrieved 2015-12-31.
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