White nationalist group’s flyers posted at UNR, community college
A white supremacist group posted flyers at two Northern Nevada college campuses on Monday, according to university officials.
The flyers were found at both the University of Nevada, Reno, and the nearby Truckee Meadows Community College and attributed to the American Identity Movement, which is classified as a white supremacist hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League.
The group is rebranding as Identity Evropa after being hit with multiple lawsuits for helping organize the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, where clashes with protesters left 30 injured and one person dead.
Identity Evropa has a history of targeting college campuses with flyers and recruitment efforts, as revealed by a leak of the organization’s online chats by the nonprofit news organization Unicorn Riot.
The flyers were discovered in five buildings at UNR by students and faculty, Eloisa Gordon-Mora, the university’s diversity and inclusion officer, said on Tuesday. They were removed for violating the policy and procedures for posting information on campus, Gordon-Mora said, and the incident is under investigation.
Gordon-Mora said the flyers included typical white nationalist messaging. The group is not a recognized student organization on campus.
Even if the group had followed procedures outlined for outside groups who wish to post information on the public campus, Gordon-Mora said the university would have examined the material and may have been rejected.
“The whole community that has learned about it is understandably upset. It challenges university values, the purpose of education and the purpose of open and informed discord,” Gordon-Mora said.
Last month, a swastika was discovered in a stairwell at Wolf Pack Tower, the university’s newly converted dorm at Circus Circus Reno. Gordon-Mora said there is no reason to think the incidents are related.
The flyers were also found at a few buildings at TMCC, according to school spokesperson Kate KirkPatrick, and were subsequently removed because they were in areas where posting is prohibited.
“At TMCC, we strive to maintain a respectful balance between free speech and a welcoming and supportive environment where no one group feels discriminated against,” Kirkpatrick said in an email.
The flyers drew condemnation Tuesday from the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“We condemn this attempt to instill fear on a college campus, a place that is supposed to be a safe haven for students,” spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said in a statement. “Unfortunately, our nation is experiencing a growing white supremacist menace that must be challenged by Americans of all faiths and backgrounds.”
Contact Aleksandra Appleton at aappleton@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0218. Follow @aleksappleton on Twitter.
