San Jose State police removed dozens of fliers with white supremacist and nationalist messages posted on campus last week.
According to Chief Diversity Officer Kathleen Wong(Lau), University police took the fliers down for violation of time, place and manner policy. The policy outlines when, where and how people can post papers on campus.
SJSU President Mary Papazian sent a campus-wide email denouncing the message more than a week later, after UPD finished investigating the incident.
“Our community will not tolerate bigotry, hatred, discrimination and other forms of social violence against individuals or groups on the basis of their race, ethnicity, immigrant status, religion or other identities,” President Papazian wrote.
“We are always going to speak against bigotry,” Wong(Lau) said. “That’s part of who we are.”
Associated Students Director of Intercultural Affairs Mira Mustafa said she would have liked to see Papazian talk about ways to act against hate speech in the email.
UPD suspects the fliers were put up during the night between Aug. 11 and 12 as they were found early in the morning, Wong(Lau) said. UPD removed the fliers.
Some of the fliers contained the name of a white nationalist group, Wong Lau said. Other California and out-of-state universities found fliers with the name of the group as well.
Mustafa said university policy surrounding hate speech should be more stringent and watchful.
“It’s frightening to feel like you’re not welcome at your own school, in your own community and city,” Mustafa said. “But I also think that it reminds people that there is strength in numbers and they should reach out to others around them to combat these issues.”
SJSU administration will continue to investigate the group only for its violation of the posting policy, and not as a hate speech violation, Wong(Lau) said.
She explained if UPD had determined the fliers to be a hate crime, the response from the university would be different.
SJSU will “step up to the plate” to design spaces to have a dialogue about hate speech and the freedom of speech, Wong(Lau) said.
During their investigation, UPD determined that no threat was made against the community, Wong(Lau) said, and no direct physical threats are anticipated.
