White Student Unions

White Student Unions are student organizations that aim to represent the interests of "white" students on university and college campuses. In 2015 many new WSU Facebook profiles appeared and media, after speaking with universities, first reported that they were hoaxes, that they were not condoned by the universities themselves. Neo-Nazi blog, The Daily Stormer, suggested followers create white unions, though some union leaders who claim they are unaffiliated, have since stepped forward and given statements about their mandates. While earlier WSU's were white supremacist in nature, newer unions are mixed in their ideologies and many disavow any connection to white supremacy, stating that they are fighting, instead, for safe spaces on campus for white students who feel whiteness is being stigmatized and also that white people are being silenced and excluded from the dialogue of race and whiteness.

History

1960s and 1970s

The first White Student Unions and similar organizations were initially born of the white separatist movement. In the 1960s, a White Student League was formed by white supremacist Tom Metzger and his father, but it dissipated in the 1970s. In 1979, Greg Withrow incorporated Metzger's Aryan Youth Movement into the White Student Union as a "militant extension of the student struggle." Sacramento State University started the first one, and it extended to as many as 20 chapters across the United States.

1980s and 1990s

White Student Unions were organized at Temple University in 1988 and at Florida State University in 1989. Temple University "was forced to recognize it because it already recognized a host of all-minority institutions," Dinesh D'Souza wrote in 1991.

In 1992, a White Student Union, with "avowedly White supremacist goals," was formed at the University of Minnesota. The university banned the group, but after debates about the First Amendment, the ban was lifted and the group was allowed to register as a student organization.

2015-2016

In November of 2015, a number of White Student Union pages emerged on social media platforms such as Facebook, some apparently in response to a call to action on The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist website; some sources have said that the pages also seem to have been coordinated on 4chan. Most coverage has described these as hoaxes, and universities have asked that online groups remove any university insignia. The unions, say they are real and that they are the product of students on campus who want safe spaces for white students who feel stigmatized and silenced. One such page considered the backlash against its creation an affirmation of the stigma against whites citing that nearly every government-funded university has an officially sanctioned black student union or association and experienced no such feedback.

Some of the unions also posted demands for things such as university funding and campus police support. One University of California school also attempted to orchestrate a "White Student Walk Out" for the 19th of January 2016 to voice issues.

The University of California later sent a mass email to all then matriculated students over the controversy caused by the pages allegedly representing schools nationwide. The UC system, among other institutions, stated that the pages were not created by or on behalf of any members of the student body they claimed to represent. Nonetheless, the university administration offered free counseling and organized a support meeting for students who may have been distressed by the controversy. The pages seemed to be the product of a larger campaign to draw awareness to the increasing racial tension being reported in the media surrounding "Black Lives Matter" and other similar racially motivated movements.

Receiving numerous complaints and reports regarding the allegedly prejudicial and racially supremacist inspiration for the pages, Facebook ultimately determined that no user guidelines had been violated and that the pages would not be removed by Facebook administrators. Many of the pages remain but have remained mostly inactive since shortly after their creation.

Some claims, have been met with skepticism over their nature, purpose, and goals. While the creator(s) of the initial string of pages have yet to be identified, some schools experienced "copycat" pages being created by actual members of the student body. One such individual, Matthew Heimbach, who says he is the founder of the White Student Union at Towson University says that he is not racist; but critics point to his group's patrols against supposed "black predators" as evidence of racism. Defending the patrols, Heimbach writes that "White Southern men have long been called to defend their communities when law enforcement and the State seem unwilling to protect our people." These unions have generally been extremely critical of the Black Lives Matter movement, saying that protesters are exhibiting "explicit hostility to white students, faculty, and culture."

Other WSU leaders who have made statements about their union mandates, have, on the other hand no reported history of white supremacy and claim they are seeking safe spaces for white people who feel that whiteness is being stigmatized and white people are being silenced. UBC's White Student Union in British Columbia, has explained in interview, that their goal as a student group, is to provide "a safe space for white students to air their true feelings," promote a vision "in which every ethnic group has the right to organise and represent themselves and their interests" and destigmatize white culture. The executive committee "meet[s] in a quiet corner of a Vancouver-area library" and "aren’t all white." The WSU at NYU state, that they feel stigmatized and "[w]hen people say that Students of Whiteness don't face any unique challenges or obstacles we should think about this". "White students are the only group to be labeled as ‘problematic’ simply for existing and to have University classes dedicated to attacking their identity." One South East Asian board member on the UBC executive noted, that "I think it’s an injustice ...the stigmatization of whiteness....[which] prevents us from having honest conversations about things that are important." University of Central Florida WSU leaders feel as though they are being held accountable for the sins of their ancestors because they are white and state, that “We are not a racist or white supremacist organization… But we will not apologize for being white. We will not self-flagellate for the sins of our ancestors. We will not be emotionally blackmailed to go along with the displacement of white people and culture in the name of ‘diversity’ or ‘equality." Leadership from UT Auston's White Student Union told reporters that “some white students feel as though they are drowning in an anti-white narrative." NYU WSU leaders also stated, that they want to "reclaim[] the word whiteness and not let[] the campus thought police define [their] identities for [them].”One such page considered the backlash against its creation an affirmation of the stigma against whites citing that nearly every government-funded university has an officially sanctioned black student union or association and experienced no such feedback.

See also

• Student activism
• Student Bill of Rights
• Student rights (higher education)
• Students' union

External links

• "No, Your College Probably Doesn’t Have a ‘White Student Union’", chronicle.com This article contains an attachment with a list of WSUs and their Facebook pages.