About 700 people with UW-Madison email addresses received a hate-filled, white supremacist propaganda email over the weekend, apparently in response to the controversial “Problem of Whiteness” course scheduled for this spring.
The email, from “[email protected],” bears the subject line “The Problem of White Genocide – Damon Sajnani, instructor.” It says “Diversity is a code word for White Genocide,” and “UW’s mommy professors say they’re anti-racist. What they are is anti-White!”
The email also puts in a plug to elect well-known white supremacist Bob Whitaker president in 2020.
“Large public institutions such as UW-Madison are frequently subjected to spam email, sometimes with disturbing or offensive content,” said UW spokesperson Meredith McGlone in an email to Madison365. “It did not come from a UW-Madison account or server. There is no indication that particular individuals were targeted.”
Doctoral candidate Faina Polt, a Weinstein Fellow at the Center for Jewish Studies at UW-Madison, tweeted an image of the email.
I got this creepy, racist email in my official @UWMadison inbox and while I’m not actually shocked it’s hard not to feel sad #racistAmerica pic.twitter.com/ICkCJ7jFbr
— Faina Polt (@FainaPolt) January 9, 2017
The investigation is ongoing. Neither Polt nor Sajnani, an assistant professor in the African Cultural Studies department, immediately responded to requests for comment.
