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Masked individuals display swastikas, yell anti-Semitic rhetoric at UW-Whitewater

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WHITEWATER, Wis. — Disturbing video is coming out of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater's campus from Sunday night. Video, captured by students, showed a group of masked people shouting and projecting anti-Semitic slurs.

"There shouldn't have been a swastika that was put up on that building," Whitewater student Kennady Wilson said.

"It shouldn't be tolerated," another student added.

Masked people mimicking Adolf Hitler, screaming anti-Semitic slurs, and chanting about blood. That was the scene outside of one UW-Whitewater dorm Sunday night.

"We were just watching TV in our dorm, and we started hearing yelling and screaming, and so we looked out the window. They were screaming like 'we are everywhere' and then doing like the Nazi thing or whatever with their hands," one student said.

You can hear and see that in one student's video, some of which we've decided to blur because of the disturbing messaging.

"It's just gross, it just makes me kind of angry a little bit, and I just really think it's not something that needs to be so spoken upon," Wilson said.

"Freedom of speech only goes to such an extent to when it becomes aggressive and violent towards other people," student Ethan Schmohe explained.

Whitewater students aren't the only ones who are concerned.

"I need to know that my daughter is safe there, and I need to know what happens next," Toni Pharm said.

Pharm has a daughter at Whitewater. She and other parents we talked to Monday said this incident shouldn't have happened.

"If we knew that these situations were going on at other UW campuses, why weren't you all prepared for something like this?" Pharm asked.

In November, an eerily similar group of people were seen walking on UW-Madison's campus, shouting parallel anti-Semitic rhetoric.

We asked UW-Whitewater's leaders for an interview Monday, but they never responded to that request.

Instead, we were forwarded a statement that was already posted on their website.

It said in part: "The actions of the group last night are abhorrent and go against our core values. The actions of the individuals are consistent with a group that has been visiting other campuses, and has no affiliation with UW-Whitewater."

"We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave and it's happening right here at our front doors," Pharm said.

"It's absolutely disgusting and that's not something I stand for at all," Wilson echoed.


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