K-State students condemn white nationalist posters on campus and plan to rally tonight

Fliers with racist and white nationalist themes were posted around the K-State campus on Wednesday in Manhattan.

Images of the posters showed up on Twitter before university officials released a statement saying the messages on the fliers were “unwelcome.”

One flier, referencing Muslim immigrants, reportedly read, “How many is too many?

Another showed a picture of a white family with this message: “Why are we told Asia for the Asians, Africa for the Africans, white countries for everyone. Diversity means less white people. We have a right to exist.”

“Why are you attacking someone that’s a different color than you or a different background than you?” senior Jonathan Cole told KSNT in Topeka.

In a statement to The Collegian, the school’s student newspaper, university officials said the “messages posted on Wednesday, Sept. 13, do not reflect the values of Kansas State University and are unwelcome.”

School officials told KSNT the fliers were removed because they were posted where posters are not allowed and because whoever placed them did not go through proper channels.

The school would have allowed the fliers if the school’s bulletin board rules had been followed, Jeff Morris, K-State’s vice president of communications, told KSNT.

Some of the posters were placed on light poles around campus.

“These do not represent our values,” Morris said. “At the same time we respect the right of free speech. We are a public university and people have a right to express their opinions.”

A joint statement from student body president Jack Ayres and vice president Olivia Baalman addressed the “individual/individuals” who hung the posters, saying “these words and actions you have imposed on our community are not the Wildcat Way.

“These are acts of discrimination and they are not tolerable on our campus. This could be your opinion, and yes, you are entitled to your opinion. But, we want to clearly state, that we disagree with it. We disagree with you.”

The posters prompted statements of condemnation from other campus groups as well, including the K-State Sexuality and Gender Alliance, College Republicans and a joint statement from The Asian American Student Union, Black Student Union and Hispanic American Leadership Organization, according to The Collegian.

A rally to support diversity has been scheduled for Thursday night on campus.

Last month officials at the University of Missouri warned students on the Columbia campus about recruitment efforts of white supremacist groups at colleges across the country.

The memo was sent after MU officials saw fliers around campus that read, “Looking for Young Midwestern Patriots.”

This story was originally published September 14, 2017 at 9:25 AM with the headline "K-State students condemn white nationalist posters on campus and plan to rally tonight."