White nationalist group posts flyers around Boca campus

Locations where the organization Identity Evropa put posters last week include the Breezeway and Wimberly Library.

Photo+courtesy+of+Identity+Evropas+Twitter+page.

Photo courtesy of Identity Evropa’s Twitter page.

Ryan Lynch and Benjamin Paley

A white nationalist group placed its posters around Florida Atlantic’s Boca campus last week as part of its national flyering campaign on college campuses.

On Feb. 17, Identity Evropa tweeted that it placed posters in several locations on campus, including the Wimberly Library and the College of Arts and Letters building.

The group advocates for deportation and immigration bans on non-white people.

Their Twitter account listed that they had previously put posters with messages like “serve your people” and “own your destiny” at several other universities, including Baylor University in Texas, the University of Texas and Stony Brook University in New York. These efforts are part of a campus flyering campaign called #ProjectSiege.

Photo courtesy of Identity Evropa’s Twitter Page.

The Oakdale, California based organization was founded by Cal State University, Stanislaus student Nathan Damigo.

In an interview with CNN, Damigo said that he believes white people are being pushed out of the country by immigrants and that the U.S. should belong to European heritage holders. He added that he doesn’t view his beliefs as racist.

Emma Yasinski, the web content coordinator for the FAU College of Medicine, wrote in an email to the University Press that she spotted the posters for the group on Feb. 16 in the Physical Science building.

After receiving a message mentioning the posters from the school’s listserv, an electronic mailing list, Yasinski reported them to FAU Police and to the College of Medicine’s Office for Diversity and Inclusion.

Photo courtesy of Emma Yasinski’s Twitter account.

“I recently read about the flyer with the words “Imagine a Muslim Free America” that was found at Rutgers and other Universities,” she wrote. “I heard that it is being investigated as a hate-crime. I believed it was best to allow the University’s law enforcement the opportunity to handle it how they deemed fit.”

Andrea Guzman Oliver, the associate vice president of student outreach and diversity, said that she was alerted to the posters’ existence by staff who had seen them around campus and in the Breezeway.

“Institutions of higher education are often targeted by organizations seeking the attention of young minds to advance their individual missions,” Guzman Oliver wrote in an email. “As such, I cannot be certain that this is an isolated incident.”

Freshman business management major Alonzo Hanson said that he has reservations about allowing a group like this to put flyers up on campus.

“It can lead to someone losing their life in the streets,” Hanson said.

Carol Hixson, the dean of University Libraries, said they did not authorize the group to put up flyers in the Wimberly Library.

“On a daily basis, the Library is flooded with flyers, stickers, info cards, and advertising tents that are randomly placed throughout the Library,” she said via email.  “When they are noticed or found they are removed and discarded.”

Guzman Oliver said that while First Amendment rights protect free speech, there are some forms not protected.

According to her, university officials consider what kind of speech a group is using before allowing them to post on campus. The flyers in question were not approved for posting by the university.

Groups also have to follow rules for posting if they’re putting up flyers in certain areas which require approval, like the Student Union and the Breezeway.

“Fliers can only be posted by registered student organizations and/or departments and require an official stamp from the student union or the college where fliers are going to be posted,” Guzman Oliver said via email. “Fliers without official stamps that are posted on bulletin boards that require a stamp are typically removed within 24 hours.”

As of Feb. 20, the posters are no longer in the spots indicated by the photos.

Freshman nursing major Burline Louis did not see the posters and said she feels that it depends what a group is saying when it evokes the First Amendment on campus.

“They want to have their voices heard,” Louis said. “They have to watch out for what they are saying.”

The University Press reached out to Identity Evropa for comment, but has not heard back as of publication time.

Ryan Lynch is the editor in chief of the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @RyanLynchwriter.

Benjamin Paley is a contributing writer with the University Press. For information regarding this or other stories, email [email protected] or tweet him @benpaley92.