By Matthew Sotlar / The Jambar
In September, there were two hate-based incidents on campus.
Several international students were verbally attacked and shot at with a pellet gun Sept. 21. The attacker shouted racial epithets at the victims before fleeing. Before this incident, multiple flyers spreading bigoted misinformation were posted by Patriot Front across campus.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, Patriot Front was formed in Texas following the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia Riots.
Richard Rogers, Youngstown State University associate professor of criminal justice, said the flyers left by the group are a common recruitment tactic.
“What they did on campus was pretty typical for what they do,” Rogers said. “They go around the country and they put up these signs, both to advertise their cause and to also try to let people know they’re out there.”
The flyers included white-nationalist rhetoric and misinformation about individuals of color. Rogers said he believes this incident was an isolated incident and there is little cause for concern.
“That would probably only be an issue if they keep coming back, because if they keep coming back, that means they see something here that makes them see some sympathy to what they’re doing. But the fact that they just showed up, it’s not a big thing,” Rogers said.
Rogers added that hate groups like Patriot Front attempt to protest on campuses occasionally.
“The other thing that they do where they’re not as successful is, every now and then, they try to protest or counterprotest,” Rogers said. “That has not gone well for them, people end up getting arrested. So, this strategy of posting is probably their most visible strategy.”
As for the students attacked on campus, Rogers defined this as a “lone wolf” type of attack.
“A lone wolf is a person who is probably working by himself, has been radicalized—nowadays we would say probably by looking at the internet or maybe reading something, and so they take these things out on their own,” Rogers said.
Police say the alleged attacker was arrested in Youngstown on unrelated charges and was identified as 18-year-old Curtis Carver.
Rogers said radicalized lone wolf attackers are generally motivated by a sense of retribution.
“There’s actually a whole bunch of these kinds of people who have done these things and they think that they single-handed are going to take out retribution or revenge,” Rogers said. “The place we see this most commonly was with active shooters. So many of them have that as their ideology.”
With the recent election and an uptick in extremism, Rogers said he believes the sense of urgency to prevent attacks has been heightened.
“Would we see another Jan. 6? That’s a little more complicated because you actually have to organize things,” Rogers said. “In general, we would expect law enforcement to be smarter this time.”
According to the YSU Office of the Dean of Students’ webpage, the university complies with federal and state laws that prohibit discrimination or harassment based on age, sexual orientation, race, national origin, disability and gender identity, among others.
There have been no follow-up reports of discriminatory flyers being posted around campus. Students should report any discriminatory material to YSU Police.
