Hatewatch for the week of March 6th 2008

Ministers Accuse Police Of Destroying 'Greensboro Massacre' Records
Three ministers alleged that active duty Greensboro police officers in 2004 and 2005 destroyed 50 boxes of police files related to an infamous case of fatal shootings at an anti-Ku Klux Klan rally in 1979...

Grandson Of Auschwitz Survivor Victimized In Anti-Semitic Attack
A Temple University student who grew up listening to his grandfather describe the horrors of Auschwitz suffered a broken nose and a fractured orbital bone when he was attacked by seven men chanting anti-Semitic slurs...

Former Campus Hate Group Leader Blasts 'Cowards' In Conservative Movement
Kyle Bristow, the former chairman of the Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, revealed that national YAF leaders threatened to revoke the group's charter if it went ahead with plans to host a lecture by white supremacist Jared Taylor...

White Supremacist Bank Robbery Fugitive Arrested
David McFarland, 29, who is suspected of robbing several banks in Oregon while on supervised released for illegally trying to purchase a firearm, was arrested in Alabama by members of the Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force...

SPLC

Hatewatch for week ending February 16th 2008

Holocaust Center Cancels Anti-Muslim Lecture Organized By Hate Group
The Holocaust Memorial Center canceled a Feb. 26 lecture sponsored by the Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom, which the Southern Poverty Law Center lists as a hate group...

Three Men Arrested In Mosque Firebombing
Federal authorities arrested three men, including one who said he was part of the extremist Christian Identity movement, for allegedly firebombing a storefront mosque...

Neo-Nazi Confesses To Desecrating Jewish Graves
National Socialist Movement member Mariusz Wdziekonski, 21, told police that he painted swastikas and slurs including "Aryan Power" on 57 headstones in a Jewish cemetery because he wanted to impress other neo-Nazis...

White Supremacist Sentenced To 17 Years For Assaults
Timothy Michael Caban, 40, pleaded guilty to committing battery with serious bodily injury for beating a black man and a man Caban thought was gay in two separate attacks, leaving one victim brain damaged for life...

Rash Of Hate Crimes Afflicts Seattle Neighborhood
Deputy King County prosecutor Mike Hogan said a spate of crimes targeting gay men in a traditionally gay Seattle neighborhood represents the highest level of hate crimes he's dealt with in 20 years as a prosecutor...

Hatewatch

MSU right-wing groups accused of anti-discrimination violation

Student leaders and faculty members have been contacted by the university regarding actions that allegedly violated the university’s anti-discrimination policy. A member and adviser of one of the student groups said no specific action leading to the violation was given in the report.

Fred Fico, a journalism professor and adviser to the MSU College Republicans, said he and others received a letter from the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives levying the charges. Ben Morlock, chairman of the College Republicans, confirmed the organization received the same letter.

“It’s incredibly unprofessional,” Morlock said. “The fact that the letter was sent out making these serious accusations and included the names of all the people at the top is very inconsiderate of the privacy of the individuals being accused.”

Fico and Morlock both said the letter made general accusations and did not name a specific event or instance in which their group violated the policy.

“One of the horrifying things about this, especially if you’re a teacher, is you could have interpreted this letter as you committed these discriminatory acts in your classroom,” Fico said. “The letter is subject to very broad and very defamatory interpretation.”

Morlock also said the MSU Young Americans for Freedom, or YAF, and their adviser, William Allen, received the letter. Kyle Bristow, YAF chairman, declined to comment.

Last month, YAF brought British National Party Chairman Nick Griffin to campus. In April, YAF and the MSU College Republicans sponsored a speech by Chris Simcox, which resulted in the arrest of five protesters. The letter did not specifically say so, but Doug Schraufnagle, a member of the Young Democratic Socialists, filed a formal complaint with the university regarding the Simcox event.

“The administrators on this campus do more than most universities,” Schraufnagle said. “However, they must take the next step to enforce when free speech is stepped upon.”

Allen could not be reached for comment by The State News on Monday.

“My task with this group is to facilitate their opportunities at MSU to act in forms of self-expression and organizational development in a collegial manner,” Allen wrote in an e-mail sent to The State News in the spring. “I will not hesitate to step in in support of student groups of whatever stripe, as I have always done heretofore.”

Fico said the letter was sent from the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives under the names of Kristine Moore and Paulette Granberry Russell. Moore referred comments to Granberry Russell, who did not return calls by The State News on Monday.

“They made up their minds to charge us, which is totally wrong,” Fico said. “The anti-discrimination policy says it protects freedom of expression and the particular charges against two groups have no merit. The charges against the advisers are utterly without merit because how can an adviser be responsible for the students we advise? We don’t believe the students did anything wrong, but even if they did, the office has no place to do that.”

The State News