Last Friday, a Facebook group called the White Student Union at UT Austin made its introductory post. It wasn’t a mission statement; that came later today (Mon., Nov. 23). Instead it was a picture of University of Texas football coach Charlie Strong, with the following caption:
“Is Charlie Strong an example of political correctness gone wrong? Rather than admitting our mistake in hiring this sub par coach because of his ethnicity, I am afraid political correctness will make us hold onto him for years longer than if he were just another white coach.”
It didn’t create many waves, with just a handful of commenters that appeared to want to debate football. But that’s not what the account was created for, and that became clear over the weekend, as the post was followed up by Confederate imagery and insane click-bait articles. As of this post, over 100 people have liked the page, likely made up more of those appalled at the messaging than anyone sincerely interested in joining.
And that’s really the entire point.
The admin of the page, hiding in anonymity to avoid being “expelled” and having their “career ruined,” said the purpose of the group is to create a safe space for students of European descent (you know, white) to participate in “open dialog about our shared interests.” (No, he didn’t expound on what those interests might be.) The admin, who also assures the Chronicle he is not alone in this effort, cites the Black Lives Matter movement as one reason for the page.
If it all sounds a little too scripted, well, congrats – you have a baseline knowledge of internet culture. Take a cookie!
The creation of this page coincides with a slew of similarly named Facebook groups for universities across the country. UT is just the tip of the iceberg. The easiest to find, of course, is the one for Berkeley, because the UT page shared one of its posts, complaining about the “visceral hatred” the admins over there are getting. There’s one for NYU. And Penn State. And UCLA.
And maybe all of them are connected to a message board prank. On the politics board of the website 4Chan (the literal armpit of the internet, seriously don’t go there), a series of posts outlined strategy for a nationwide action of this kind over the weekend. Then they started watching for a reaction, and giggling about it like school children.
“Whoever is creating these White Student Union pages – you’re genius,” said one commenter. “You’re exposing the anti-White reaction, and you’re agitating the wasp’s nest.”
The admin for UT’s page said they are a group of actual students who have been using 4Chan as a place to “organize and take the next step to meet[ing] in real life.” The website at large has merely been taking credit for their work. That’s a hard pill to swallow, when nearly identical “mission statements” popping up online. UCLA’s claims it was “inspired” by Berkeley. And UT’s admin says that, while the Berkeley people are more liberal than him, he’s Skyped with them before.
The White Student Union is not condoned by UT, and the group hasn’t gone through the process necessary to be accepted as an official student organization, but it is unclear what would happen if they choose to go that route. When asked if such an organization would be accepted, assistant director of communications for the Office of the Vice President of Student Affairs Jess Mitchell said, “We can’t speak in hypotheticals.”
Update: The Berkeley Facebook group has since been deleted, after a statement from the university’s chancellor. Additionally, UT’s Office of Student Affairs said they have asked the White Student Union UT Austin page to stop claiming an affiliation when it is not a registered organization on campus. The page has since been renamed “Union of White UT Students.”
This article appears in November 27 • 2015 and November 20 • 2015.