White nationalist sticker found on campus

A sticker from a white nationalist group was reportedly found on a parking sign near Stone Hall at about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
The Staff of Stone Hall contacted Purdue University Police Department to notify police about the sticker, which PUPD Police Capt. Song Kang said advertised the hate group Patriot Front. PUPD documented the situation as a policy violation and contacted Purdue Grounds to have the sticker removed.
The incident appears to be a part of a sporadic pattern of similar stickers going up around campus.
On Nov. 19, students reported on social media seeing Patriot Front advertisements near Meredith Residence Hall.
The Patriot Front, according to the Anti-Defamation League, is a white nationalist group that was formed following the Unite the Right white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The leader of the group, Thomas Ryan Rousseau, was arrested in 2022 along with 30 other members of the group after hiding in a U-Haul truck with a ‘large amount of equipment,' according to CNN. They were all charged with a misdemeanor for conspiracy to riot.
“A manifesto posted to the group’s website soon after it formed called for ‘American Fascism,’ which it described as a ‘return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers,’” according to the ADL’s website. “The manifesto also made clear that non-whites were not ‘Americans.’”
Kang said police did not remove the sticker at Stone Hall because of its message due to “freedom of speech,” but rather because of its unwanted placement, qualifying it as an act of vandalism.
No suspect has been identified at this time.
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