Last month, dozens of social media pages suddenly popped up, calling for the creation of “white student unions” on campuses nationwide.
Among them was a Facebook page titled “A White Student Union for the University of Minnesota.” It claimed that, “for too long, peoples of European descent have been held voiceless and without representation.”
The University said students were not behind the stunt and that the misrepresentative page was “created for inflammatory purposes by outsiders.” Facebook has since removed it.
By all accounts, this Facebook page was a hoax. Nevertheless, the fact that someone would be arrogant and ignorant enough to take the time to try to instigate this kind of controversy at colleges nationwide speaks to one reason why racial tension is rising so sharply in the country nowadays.
There are certainly people who look at black student unions or other ethnic student groups and wonder why there aren’t more white student unions as well.
Still, we hope these people take the time to think about why this is offensive and why the administration asked to remove the phony page from the Internet.
Minority student groups are essential to maintaining a diverse campus. They help make the college experience as welcoming for minority students as it is for heterosexual white ones.
We commend the student leaders who brought this issue to the attention of University administrators, and we thank those administrators for taking prompt action to get the page removed.
