On Wednesday a hateful flier was posted in the Turlington area on the free speech boards. This flier equated one of the UF Student Government parties with the Nazi Party in Germany through the use of the swastika symbol.
Comparing the Nazi regime — which was responsible for the outbreak of World War II and the murder of more than 11 million civilians — to a student group is offensive and inexcusable. It trivializes the crimes of the Nazis and inflicts emotional pain. It minimizes the sacrifices made by Allied soldiers and the victims of the Holocaust of all backgrounds.
Simply stated, this flier is hate speech and has no place on the UF campus. As Americans and as Gators, we are simply too good to be involved in this sort of behavior.
The flier is attributed to a group called UF for Israel. To the best of my knowledge, no such group exists on campus nor is one registered with SG. It appears that this is just another piece of disinformation intended to cause pain.
I call upon the individual or individuals who created this flier to apologize publicly. I would be willing to meet with the author(s) privately to discuss why this is so offensive.
As a campus that honors and respects the best traditions of this country, I hope we can use this as a learning opportunity about hate speech and the power of symbols. The Gator Nation must band together to ensure hate speech is never tolerated.
