The SCSU College Republicans displayed what some consider White Nationalist posters in the SCSU Atwood Memorial Center last week. The politically charged posters displayed what many are considering hateful and discriminatory messages. The signs had phrases such as “Marriage is between a man and a women! Support traditional marriage” and “Socialism Sucks!” on them.

The controversy sparked when Unite Cloud, an online based community attempting to build bridges between different cultures in St. Cloud, posted a photo on Facebook of the posters.  Some of these posters poked fun at those with autism and the LGBT community, among others. This incident, however, was not isolated.

In St. Joesph, another central Minnesota college town, a slew of posters went up on January 19th, with the words “ End white guilt” and “Unapologetically White” on them. The signs were put up by the self-proclaimed St. Cloud White Student Union, which is not an officially recognized union by St. Cloud State University. This group additionally posted on their Facebook in support of the signs at SCSU, throwing blame on the “political left” for suppressing their belief systems, ideas, and opinions.

Both these incidences followed a banner being displayed in St. Cloud that read “No more refugees. Americans first. Identity Evropa” last December by the group Identity Evropa. This was the same group involved in the Unite the Right protest at the University of Virgina last August that ended with violence and the death of 32 year old, Heather Heyer.

According to the Anti-Defamation Leauge, the rise in white nationalism has not only affected central Minnesota college towns, but colleges all around the country. Since September 1, 2016 there has been a 258 percent increase in white supremacist propaganda on college campuses.

Last week, St. Cloud State’s interim president, Ashish K. Vadiya, addressed the signage and subsequent outrage that followed in an email to all the students. He stressed the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusivity and announced the extra precautions being taken to ensure students safety. When directly addressing the posters, Vadiya made it clear that despite his disgust at their message, that “we also must respect their right to free expression.”

Regardless of this, the attitude around the signs among some Sartell High School students is quite clear. Hannah Bous after seeing a few of the many posters stated, “St. Cloud is an area filled with diversity. To see a sign that does the opposite of welcoming people, especially in Minnesota, that makes me very upset.” She continued, “It’s not a typical Minnesotan thing to do I guess. I guess I’ve just always thought we were ‘Minnesota Nice.’”