BURLINGTON — White nationalist stickers and posters have once again been placed around the UVM campus, this time coming on the second day of classes.
UVM Police issued a statement Wednesday morning saying they received alerts to the posters from a group called “Patriot Front” on Tuesday and began investigating the most recent incident.
The posters were located around the Davis Center, the student center at UVM. “These stickers showed statements such as ‘Keep America American’ and ‘Better Dead Than Red,’ ” the police statement says.
The UVM police are still investigating and asking the public’s help. “Anyone with information on these incidents is asked to contact UVM Police at 802-656-3473,” the statement says.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the sticker attached to the back of a traffic sign near the east entrance to the Davis Center had been removed, but the UVM student newspaper — the Vermont Cynic — was able to capture a picture of it. The Cynic also reported some people had scratched out parts of the poster and filled it in with words of support for undocumented immigrants.
A statement from UVM cites the Southern Poverty Law Center’s designation of Patriot Front as “a white nationalist hate group.”
“We denounce its racist ideology and tactics, which deliberately target people of color and run counter to our core values as a University community,” the UVM statement said.
This is not the first time an incident like this has occurred at UVM. In 2018, UVM and Champlain College were plagued with posters reading, “It’s okay to be white.” In 2017, the same “It’s okay to be white” posters were taped to light poles at UVM.