Students in shock after seeing offensive posters on FGCU’s campus

Signs depicting Adolf Hitler popped up on FGCU’s campus this weekend, which left students feeling uneasy.

“I just think it’s shocking that someone on the same campus as me can think so evil about other people,” said Talie Zinda, a student at FGCU. “It’s so different when you see it on social media or in a different state but then it’s like when it’s right here on the same campus as you it’s just like sad because it’s just more of a reality to you.”

Other students say they were heartbroken, disgusted, scared and disappointed. “I was disgusted that this was happening on the campus that I call home,” said Yaritza Rivero, a sophomore at FGCU.

Now, she doesn’t feel welcome. “I actually saw it while I was on my way back from Miami for the weekend. And I kind of was like do I actually want to come back and be here again if this is going on,” Rivero said.

Another student says this just adds fuel to an already fiery schoolyear. “How could you have so much anger and like hurt in your heart to do that and then want other people to see it?” Zinda asked.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time offensive messages like these have popped up on FGCU’s campus. Four incidents were reported back in 2016 which included ‘Noose Tying 101’ being written on a whiteboard in the library, posters that read ‘White Guilt: Free yourself from Marxism’ and the drawing of a black stick figure being hung from a tree outside of a professor’s office. The latter sparked protests. A student also posted ‘it’s okay to be white’ posters across campus in 2018.

“You would think after the first time it might be finished but it’s sadly not and we need to do something that’s going to stop it or else it’s not going to,” said junior Alyssa Stammer.

These students hope the person responsible for this weekend’s incident is caught and faces consequences.

“It’s just so crazy because going to a school where they say everyone has a right to feel comfortable and everyone is supposed to be a family. How are you going to be a family when people say things like that?” Stammer said.

FGCU President Mike Martin said messages were posted over the weekend, one poster specifically at Edwards Hall. He also said in the statement to students faculty and staff that if the people responsible for these messages are connected to FGCU, the relationship will end immediately and they will face consequences.

President Martin’s Statement on Offensive Messages
Also read it here: https://t.co/4iU8zN40UC pic.twitter.com/KkwQbCQxM5

— FGCU (@fgcu) November 1, 2020

 If the people who posted these messages are from outside the university, Martin said they are no longer welcome on campus.