Students at college campuses across the United States were shocked Friday to find flyers on campus printers urging them to join the struggle for “global white supremacy.” The flyers first appeared on the printers Thursday afternoon.
The flyer originated with The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi skinhead group that took responsibility for hacking into the printing network.
The flyer claimed Jews are destroying the United States and urged readers to join the Daily Stormer group.
Among the schools affected were Brown University in Rhode Island, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Princeton University, Smith College, Northeastern University, DePaul University, University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee), Oregon State University, California State University at Long Beach, UC Davis and the University of Southern California at Los Angeles.
Two exchange students from Turkey told Fox40 they were surprised to see religious intolerance in America. But Ardich Arikal said this was not the first incident he has encountered on the UC Davis campus. Last year, there were swastikas painted on a Jewish fraternity building. “It’s happening all the time,” he told Fox40. “We see hate crimes everywhere, “Avca Ozcan said.
Princeton University and others said they were investigating to find out how the remotely printed anti-Semitic flyers were hacked in.
U Mass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy called the flyer “hate-filled, racists and anti-Semitic” in an email distributed to the campus community Thursday afternoon. “As a campus community, we condemn this cowardly and hateful act. This despicable incident reminds us that we must not be complacent as we continue to strive for a society that embraces diversity, inclusion and equity – a society where everyone feels safe and welcome,” Subbaswamy wrote.
University of California Chancellor Linda Katehi also condemned the flyers in a school-wide email.
“Our university takes very seriously incidents that are intimidating, threatening or hostile to any member of the UC Davis community,” Katehi wrote.
The Daily Stormer website gleefully posted a television report from WPIX Channel 11 which said some students “broke down in tears” when confronted with the posters.
“Thousands of printers are printing this flier, all across the globe!” the website celebrated.
Meanwhile, numerous university professors and administrators who received the flyer on their printers decided it should be discussed with students as part of the curriculum, causing further panic as a result.
Students reported feeling fear, concern that the flyer was related to possible terror, and a sense of not knowing what could come next — all of which was received with joy by The Daily Stormer, a group that appears to thrive on such reactions.