Nazi group posts swastikas at ASU Tempe campus

A Nazi group posted flyers at various locations around Arizona State University’s Tempe campus Tuesday, according to a post by the Anti-Defamation League. 

The group, Folk Front, claims it is a National Socialist community dedicated to peaceful revolution and its website is littered with white supremacist propaganda that include quotes from Adolf Hitler’s biography. 

The posters took the often used phrase “love not hate” but put a Nazi swastika in the word “love” and the Jewish Star of David in the word “hate.” 

“We are very concerned by the placing of fliers on the Arizona State University campus with a swastika over the weekend,” Carlos Galindo-Elvira, the Arizona regional director for the ADL said. “Use of this hate symbol is not normal. We condemn its use to promote hate and divisiveness.”

The ADL is in contact with local law enforcement to find out more information about the group and the flyers to “ensure the safety and security of students,” Galindo-Elvira said. 

“The university is aware of the flier that was reported by an ASU student Friday,” ASU said in a statement sent to the Mirror. “Ensuring the safety and security of our students is our top priority, and the university undertakes extensive efforts to ensure student safety is not compromised. ASU is a place where open debate can thrive and honest disagreements can be explored, but not when hateful rhetoric is used. That is not who we are.”

The posters appear to have already had a recruitment impact for the organization. 

“I just found out about Folkfront when I saw some of your guys’ posters at ASU,” Folk Front forum user anglosundevil said in a forum post dated from a day ago. “I’ve been dying to talk to some like minded people.” 

White supremacist and extremist groups have been making recruitment pushes at colleges across the nation. 

Last month, Paradise Valley Community College, ASU and GCU were the targets of a sticker and flyer campaign by the white supremacist group Patriot Front. 

Hate group Identity Ervopa, which often delves into white nationalist rhetoric, has also posted flyers on the campus in the past. 

ASU did not respond to a request for comment.