A Controversial Flyer on Mercer University’s Campus is Asking Students To Fight For White History Month

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT)-A flyer is circulating on Mercer University’s campus asking students to fight for a white history month. The controversial paper was put up in residence halls, and it has the entire campus buzzing. The flyers were put up sometime Monday night, and school officials quickly had them taken down.

The flyer put up by an anonymous person wanted to have a white history month recognized in November and December. The flyer said, “There are African American societies, black student organizations, and Indian heritage associations; however, there is not one white society of engineers, white student organization, or Caucasian heritage association. Why? Because if there are, various individuals will say this is racism,” said anonymous person. For some Mercer students, it was their first time seeing the flyer.

“I think it is pretty divisive. I would say,” said Mercer Student Chase
Williams.

“I think it is just really out there to start trouble. I almost want to call it teenage nonsense,” said Mercer Student Amanda Hutsell.

The letter went on to say, “Since there is too much white history to squeeze in one month, we will settle for two,” said anonymous person. The flyer even talked about politics saying, “The voting ballots of next month might as well say black and white. Is the individual winning based on policy or skin color? This is only another example of unfairness towards white people,” said anonymous person.

“I think it just shows how real racism is in our community and even though we say that we have moved passed it and that we are in a state of enlightenment that racism is still real,” said College Student Fredrick Woods.

Mercer University President Dr. Bill Underwood sent out a letter to the community about the controversial flyer. Dr. Underwood said in the letter…

“Members of the Mercer community:

Last evening, a flyer was anonymously posted in several of our residence halls that demeaned efforts to promote education about people of diverse races and cultures and their contributions to our society. The ignorance reflected in the poster is a reminder of the imperative of these efforts.

As a community committed to intellectual freedom, we seek to enrich the mind and spirit by promoting and facilitating an open and rigorous search for understanding. Thoughtful people of good will frequently disagree on how best to move beyond centuries of legal, institutional, and cultural racism in America. In this community, these disagreements should be expressed through respectful dialogue. We should always endeavor to rise above the thoughtless rancor that characterizes so much of our public dialogue today.

Gratefully, I have found that respectful engagement and discourse is the norm in this community. Let us all redouble our efforts to ensure that being a community of respect remains more than simply an ideal at Mercer.

Bill Underwood

School officials have not determined who wrote the letter.