University Finally Condemns White Freakout Over 'Problem Of Whiteness' Class
Arizona State University condemned the backlash to a course on the "problem of whiteness" for the first time in public on Monday, months after the class rose to national attention and its professor received threats from white supremacists.
ASU administrator James Rund criticized "hate speech" incidents that have occurred on campus this semester in a joint statement with Jake Bennett, the director of Arizona's Anti-Defamation League, and George Dean, the president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Urban League.
"There have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers," read the statement, published in The Arizona Republic. "This behavior and these sentiments do not reflect the values of our community."
The statement didn't specify which incidents the signers were referring to. But as TPM has previously reported, a white nationalist group called the National Youth Front launched a campaign against the class that involved flooding ASU President Michael Crow with emails, distributing fliers branding the course's professor, Lee Bebout, as "Anti-White," and protesting the course on campus.
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