On the morning of Nov. 15, fliers titled “Why White Women Shouldn’t Date Black Men,” were found in Armstrong commons and, later that day, in the Dedman Life Sciences building.
The same flier has appeared on at least one other college campus this fall, University of Michigan and University of Oklahoma.
Alt Right, a far right group that rejects mainstream conservatism, appears to have authored the flier, indicated by their logo and name on the bottom right corner.
“[This flier] is particularly offensive to me because I’m mixed race,” said an SMU sophomore from the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA). “It’s sad that people don’t feel safe right now,” she said.
Sophomore student Caroline Chambers has noticed the recurrence of racist sentiment at this school.
Even though many students initially responded to this incident with shock, “It’s not the first time I’ve heard something along these lines at SMU,” said Chambers. “It feels like we’re in the 1950s.”
Sophomore Alison Wenzel similarly expressed the same perhaps not-passé feeling invading on the 21st century. “Especially at a university where we claim to be shaping the future…[incidents like these] take our society back 50 years into a narrow-minded and hateful mindset,” she said.
SMU student, Aabid Shivji doesn’t agree with the fliers either and think that they shouldn’t have a place on the campus at all.
“I think it’s unacceptable that this happened at a university that claims all Mustangs will be valued,” Shivji said. “Students are being criminalized and attacked by these people that don’t even want to come forward and take responsibility.”
This isn’t something that the university should stand for, according to Shivji.
“If the administration cares about every Mustang feeling included, then they shouldn’t stand for stuff like this happening,” Shivji said.
Since the break of the news this morning, fliers that counter the distributed, Alt Right message have been circulated in Hughes-Trigg Student Center and some residential buildings; “We’re Better Together” is their title.
See this article for The Daily Campus‘s breaking news on the incident.
