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The Morning Call: A Pennsylvania university appears to have been targeted by the white supremacist group ‘Hundred-Handers,’ but why?

  • December 31, 2021

By CARTER WALKER –

The stickers posted across Millersville University last month encouraging white students to “never apologise” for their race raised two perplexing questions: Who did this, and why?

The Lancaster County university now says it can answer the first question.

The messages appear to be associated with an anonymous group of online white supremacist activists called the “Hundred-Handers.” Their name is derived from a trio of giants in Greek Mythology, according to the group’s own explanation.

The stickers did not name the group specifically, but they matched stickers posted by the group at other locations in the U.S. and Canada, said Janet Kacskos, the school’s Director of Communications.

However, the identity of the individuals who placed the stickers remains unknown. Kacskos said the case is still open but inactive, and no charges have been filed.

The Hundred-Handers began placing similar white supremacist, anti-immigrant stickers in public places throughout Europe, the United Kingdom, Canada and at least 15 states in 2018, according to published reports of its activity and the group’s channel on Telegram, a social media site.

Why the Millersville campus was targeted is not as clear, though college campuses across the country, including several others in Lancaster County, have become targets for white supremacist and alt-right groups seeking to recruit new members in recent years.

Similar stickers attributed to the group have been found at Purdue University, Colorado State University, and the Missouri Historical Museum in St. Louis. The same “never apologise” stickers were found at other public places in Colorado and South Dakota.

The Hundred-Handers’ stickers mostly target high visibility areas like lamp posts, doors and street signs.

Responding to these efforts poses a challenge, school administrations and civil liberties groups say, as combating hate speech must be balanced with the First Amendment guarantee of free speech.

Why schools are targeted

Millersville was not the only school to find the racist stickers on its campus.

Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster city found stickers that stated “diversity doesn’t work” — another common Hundred-Handers theme — in recent weeks, said spokesperson Peter Durantine. The stickers had been placed on signs reminding people of the campus mask policy.

And Millersville has been targeted by racist graffiti several times in the past five years. According to the ADL, a national anti-hate organization that tracks hate-speech incidents, the stickers were at least the fifth such incident at the school since 2017. Antisemitic graffiti was found on campus twice in 2018 and once last year, and in 2017 propaganda from a white supremacist group, Identity Evropa, was found on campus.

Elizabethtown College also found those same Identity Evropa posters in 2107, and Franklin & Marshall discovered a swastika drawn on a white board in 2016. According to the ADL’s Center on Extremism, white supremacist and alt-right groups have been actively targeting college campuses with propaganda since 2016, with Pennsylvania among the states experiencing the highest number of incidents. The material often displays white supremacist themes, promotes websites or QR codes linking to a group’s page, or disparages minority communities.

”The goal could be either to intimidate or recruit,” said Robin Burstein, interim regional director for the ADL. “That ‘never apologise for being white’ is really looking for recruitment.”

The ADL lists 73 instances since 2016 of white supremacist propaganda or antisemitic harassment, violence or vandalism at colleges and universities in Pennsylvania. Millersville is tied with Drexel University for the second-most incidents, behind Temple University, although Millersville’s number of incidents per student is about three-times higher than both of those schools.

”When students are in college, their minds are open,” Burstein said. “So those who have these ideologies who are looking to strengthen their ranks will often post things on college campuses looking for students who may be frustrated or concerned, who may have some sympathies toward those ideologies who they can then recruit into their ranks.”

How Millersville responds

Kacskos said the school handles incidents on an individual basis.

When incidents involving hate speech or attacks targeting specific communities occur — like the recent stickers or the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh — Kacskos said the university president and chief diversity officer participate in discussions about how to respond, along with other relevant faculty and even student leaders.

Each response will be determined on “a case-by-case” basis, she said.

Student leaders say they believe Millersville’s administration has handled these incidents well.

Leizel Schlott, president of the student government association, said the association received advanced notice about the stickers so they could be prepared to respond. When incidents have occurred, she said the university does its “due diligence” to collect all the information needed for a well-rounded response.”

I believe the university does a relatively good job in responding to these incidents,” she said.Madison Whitcomb, the student representative on the board of trustees, agreed, and also mentioned that University President Daniel Wubah met with met with groups representing the school’s different ethnic, religious and sexual orientation communities this month to talk to them about the campus climate and how to make it an inclusive space. She said another meeting is being planned for the spring.

Kacskos also pointed to the university’s emergency operations and crisis communications plans. ”They really spell out the processes of how we manage these issues,” she said.

The plans, available online, cover things like how buildings will be evacuated, how equipment will be mobilized, and how information will be communicated to the police, students and broader community. The plan mentions specific violent scenarios like active shooters, biological attacks and explosions, but also more mundane crises like state budget cutbacks and utility outages.

The documents do not mention procedures for responding to hate speech specifically; nor does the university’s policy on who can post materials on campus.

The university does have a policy that covers harassment toward groups or individuals based on their race, religion or ethnicity, but the policy says reports are to go through the Title IX process, which specifically deals with sex discrimination.

There is an online “inclusive community report form” where anyone can report instances of hate speech, but asked directly if there is any policy requiring staff to report hate speech when they see or hear it, Kacskos said no.

”It’s on a case-by-case basis, again,” she said. “Everyone knows what their role is and facilities (staff) is always looking for anything that doesn’t belong there or for people who have defaced university property.”

The university declined to make its campus police Chief Peter Anders available for an interview on his department’s policies and procedures, although he told the student newspaper — The Snapper — that officers document and remove unapproved material when it is on university property and that officers notify him if the material is disparaging.

Anders also cited First Amendment protections of speech, even hate speech.

Balancing the First Amendment

Burstein said the best way universities can respond to incidents of hate propaganda is to remove it when it is found, implement reporting mechanisms, make a public statement acknowledging the discovering and condemning the speech, ally with student groups and help them to speak out, or even bring in anti-bias workshops. The first thing they should do is review their policies on who can post and what can be posted, she said, but universities also need to consider the First Amendment.

The ADL created a program for universities responding to bias and hate, called Hate/Uncycled, which focuses on preparing administrators, faculty, staff, students and campus police to address incidents through education, pre-planning and community outreach.

”Number one (is to) review their policies on who can post and what can be posted,” Burstein said, adding though that it can be a balancing act as universities also need to consider the First Amendment.

The American Civil Liberties Union argues against placing restrictions on hate speech on campus. But like the ADL, the civil liberties organization recommends that campus leadership speak out against hate speech and convene forums to raise awareness.”

Merely offensive or bigoted speech does not rise to that level, and determining when conduct crosses that line is a legal question that requires examination on a case-by-case basis,” the group’s guide to speech on campus reads. “Real social change comes from hard work to address the underlying causes of inequality and bigotry, not from purified discourse.”

Millersville University was quick to respond to the Dec. 3 incident. The next day, Wubah sent an email to the community condemning the stickers and helping students find services.

”This hateful and hurtful speech will not be tolerated at Millersville University,” the email read.

Kacskos said the university has worked to push back against hate speech and make the campus inclusive by celebrating diversity through events like Black heritage and Pride months and creating the chief diversity officer cabinet position. The university also put together a resource guide for students to consult when they believe they are the targets of hate.