University Of Utah Condemns 'It's Okay To Be White’ Posters On Campus

The University of Utah Office for Equity and Diversity condemned posters which emerged across the campus and stated “It’s Okay to Be White”, saying they were meant to create “division throughout our campus community.”

In a statement reported by local news networks, the university said three such posters were found on the campus in Salt Lake City on Sunday.

“Three posters that state, “It’s Okay to Be White,” were found on our campus yesterday afternoon; more have emerged today, in various locations. This appears to be part of a nationwide campaign with the purpose to create division throughout our campus community. If, indeed, these tactics are meant to silence our work in diversity and inclusion, please know we shall not be deterred. We will continue to engage our campus in critical discussions and work together to enact real change,” said the statement released Monday.

The posters were printed on black and white paper with the one sentence on them, referring to an idea that originally emerged online and spread to different universities across the country, Fox News affiliate WTVT-TV reported.

In Utah, the posters come after heated protests by students against conservative commentator Ben Shapiro’s speech at the university in late September.

"This is America, you are essentially free to do what you want. Freedom is harsh, freedom is unsparing. It means you are responsible for your own decisions," said Shapiro at the time. "This notion that America was created specifically for the benefit of rich white males to preserve their power is absolute and utter hogwash, just complete bull," he added.

However, University of Utah is not the only campus to have seen these controversial posters. These posters were spotted in the week following Halloween in colleges and schools like Rocky River, Ohio, Tulane University in New Orleans, Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland, University of California, Berkeley and near the campuses in Cambridge, Massachusetts, according to the Washington Post.

The report also said the posters were prompted by an anonymous suggestion on the online chat space 4chan on Oct. 31, which suggested the message would pull Americans towards far-right ideologies.

Huffington Post said the creator of the post asked others to “put on silly [H]alloween costume for anonymity” and put up the signs reading “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE,” on “campuses (and elsewhere).” He believed the signs would gain media attention and “normies” — a term used by white supremacists to refer to white Americans ― would see journalists and leftists “hate white people.”

The user added it would be a “massive victory for the right in the culture war” that would kill the credibility of media outlets and produce more of “our guys.”

The posters were since taken down from the campuses but the idea continued to remain on social media in the form of a hashtag on Twitter.

This is not the first time University of Utah saw such racially-motivated acts. The administrators of the campus announced the creation of a campus anti-racism task force in October saying the Salt Lake City campus “stands against racism in any form.”

Earlier the same month, vandals had painted a racial slur targeting African-Americans onto the interior of the construction site for the university’s new Carolyn and Kem Gardner Building. In August, at least two signs were posted on campus that read “Stop the Blacks,” the Salt Lake Tribune reported.