Negro Baseball League Museum see TheAppalachianOnline.com
The Appalachian Thursday, April 16, Tuesday, February 24,2015 2015
Neo-Nazi group ‘defends’ white privilege by Laney Ruckstuhl News Editor
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neo-Nazi group is targeting Appalachian State University and “defending” white and Christian privilege with a campaign called Bully Boards. The National Youth Front, a wing of the white nationalist American Freedom Party, first plastered posters in one of the expression tunnels on Appalachian’s campus Tuesday, following the Forum on Privilege hosted by the university Monday night, which featured six faculty members who discussed the idea of privilege in an attempt to educate the student body. The boards have received national attention since one was posted in East Residence Hall by resident assistant and senior political science major Reginald Gravely. The board, which asked students to “check” their privilege, received coverage from the online publications Campus Reform and Young Conservatives before the story was eventually picked up by Fox News. The bulletin board was defended by University Housing, which refused to take it down and has been holding meetings in residence halls to educate students. Similar
bulletin boards have also been posted on campus, such as one titled “Unpacking Christian Privilege,” which was vandalized in a residence hall shortly following its posting.
“Students, understandably, are angry, fearful and upset about the imagery. So am I.” Chief Diversity Officer Bindu Jayne
Chief Diversity Officer Bindu Jayne said in an email that the posters show a sharp contrast with the environment of the forum held the night before. “Students, understandably, are angry, fearful and upset about the imagery,” Jayne stated in the email. “So am I.” Sophomore studio art major Rebekah Richardson posted a photograph of the posters in the tunnel on Facebook, which received many shares and comments. She said when she first saw them, she thought it was laughable, until she realized they were a white supremacist group who may be trying to recruit students. “The current racial climate at [Appalachian] is already bad enough,” Richardson
said. “This presence is really not what our campus needs right now. It should really be an eye opener to those who are unwilling to believe that we have a serious issue with racism on our campus and in the U.S.” NYF leader Angelo John Gage said the posters were phase II of the campaign against Appalachian, which he said is an “anti-white” institution. The group also asked its supporters to email Chancellor Sheri N. Everts asking her to take down bulletin boards surrounding the idea of privilege in a YouTube video on their website and Facebook page. According to www.nationalyouthfront.com, the group is not a supremacist organization but “an elite youth organization dedicated to the preservation of all White people.” But Gage denied that privilege exists, calling it “cultural Marxist rhetoric that is designed to destroy our culture by undermining everything that has created it in order to bring about some impossible utopia of equality.” The group also worked with the Traditionalist Youth Network, which subscribes to similar beliefs under the Traditionalist school of thought. Gage posted another vid-
ASU psychology professors study mental health issues in rural areas by Josh Wharton Intern News Reporter
Jordan Kimbrell
Appalachian pyschology professor Lisa Curtin (right) poses with a student at a conference.
Faculty members in the Appalachian State University Department of Psychology have been conducting studies of mental health in rural areas, which are known for having fewer resources available for those who may be suffering from mental illnesses. J.P. Jameson, psychology professor, said this is a multi-faceted issue that must be approached from many different angles. Research shows distinct differences between urban and rural areas concerning mental health issues. “A lot of what we do is look at rural urban differences to try to understand what is it about rural areas that makes mental health and psychological treatments different,” Jameson said. Jameson said much of the rural urban differences involve treatment itself, not
SEE HEALTH PAGE 4
Courtesy: Rebekah Richardson
These National Youth Front and Traditionalist Youth Network posters and memes were placed in various campus locations.
eo Wednesday morning in response to angry emails, Facebook posts and tweets he received from students, saying he didn’t understand why white students who had responded negatively were being “suicidal” and acting
against their own interests. Appalachian does not have registered chapters of NYF or TYN on campus, although the Southern Poverty Law Center reported in February
SEE NEO-NAZI PAGE4
Professors fight salary increase by Thomas Culkin News Reporter
A campaign known as Faculty Forward presented a petition demanding professor salary increases not be paid for with student tuition to the University of North Carolina system Board of Governors on April 10. Michael Behrent, a history professor at Appalachian State University and the university’s representative on the American Association of University Professors, believes the BOG’s attempt to use tuition increases to fund pay raises sends a false message. “The Board of Governors seems to be saying that they want to raise salaries, but the only way they can do that in these difficult budget times is if we simultaneously charge
the students more,” Behrent said. “The petition signers feel like that’s a false dynamic to give.” Faculty Forward is a campaign launched by the Service Employee’s International Union. The SEIU is currently the fastest-growing labor union in the United States that focuses on employees of the service sector. Although they have not been able to work officially in North Carolina, due to the state’s restrictions against unions, their campaign has nevertheless been able to gain traction. Appalachian’s tuition will increase by 5 percent next academic year – as ruled by the BOG on Feb. 27 – regardless of whether faculty raises come from that amount or not.
SEE SALARY PAGE 2