JMU responded to critics of the student union page saying, “As the university named for the drafter of the First Amendment, we understand and believe in the importance of freedom of expression in a democracy, even on the most hard issues”.
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Facebook pages linking supposed “white student union” groups to two B.C. universities are distasteful but don’t violate community standards, the social media giant said Wednesday.
“Anything like the White Student Union will be encouraging and empowering white supremacists, and that’s why its necessary to take a public stand against them”.
NYU says the Facebook page touting a white student union on its Greenwich Village campus is using the school’s purple and white logo illegally and has demanded it be removed.
UBC made it very clear that the white student union page associated with the school was not sanctioned nor endorsed by the school.
The full post on the official JMU page can be viewed here and the full post on the “JMU White Student Union” page can be viewed here.
“Facebook groups claiming to be operated by “white students’ unions” across several North American universities, including UBC, appear to be a hoax”, UBC said in a statement. “Many have already spoken out against the vitriol and we are asking that the other universities (tagged below) join us in asking Facebook to delete these pages, which are being used for harassment and intimidation”, the post reads.
No matter, students and school administrators are outraged and have issued statements condemning the alleged groups.
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Director of University Communications, Kurt Heinrich commented on the page: “This Facebook page is not an official SFU page or group and [that] is concerning. This group is not affiliated with the SFSS in any way and does not at the moment have a pending application to gain club status”. “Nevertheless, we shall be monitoring the situation closely”.
