For six hours a day for the last five days straight, volunteers have read off the names of the six million Jewish and five million other victims of the Nazi regime, as a part of Holocaust Remembrance Week at the University of Wyoming. But the week also wrapped up with a letter from President Laurie Nichols to the campus, addressing recent issues of free speech and inclusiveness at UW.
Among them was an incident involving fliers being left around campus that deny the Holocaust. Nichols explained that “while the fliers themselves are protected by the Constitution, their placement violated city ordinances for littering and posting of handbills.” They were removed by UW Campus Police who are conducting an investigation.
Chad Baldwin, the director of Institutional Communications, said the president felt it was important to communicate that the information on the flyer is false.
“We don’t have a big Jewish community at UW or in Wyoming, and they need to feel welcomed. They need to feel safe and so that’s why the president went so far to put out a statement to campus,” he said.
Baldwin said that when concerns arise over hate speech and harassment, the UW community can reach out to the Diversity Office, the Title IX Office, as well as UW Campus Police.
