Texas Colleges Home to the Most Hate Group Recruitment Efforts in Country

Texas has seen more recruitment efforts by hate groups on college campuses than any other state this school year.

Since September, 107 recruitment campaigns (usually in the form of stickers, flyers, or posters) have popped up on college campuses across the country — 17 of them in Texas alone. More than half of the national incidents occurred in the past two months.

These numbers are "unprecedented," according to the Anti-Defamation League, the organization that released the data last week — a day before anti-Semitic flyers appeared on the Texas State University campus.

“While there have been recruitment efforts in the past, never have we seen anti-Semites and white supremacists so focused on outreach to students on campus," said ADL head Jonathan A. Greenblatt in a press release.

In its report, ADL blames this rise in recruitment on white supremacists leaders, like Richard Spencer and Jared Taylor, who've said their groups must take advantage of Donald Trump's election to accelerate their nationalist movement.

"It is widely understood that the election of Donald Trump is a sign of rising white consciousness," Taylor wrote in January.

While a handful of campuses in Texas have seen these hate group poster pop up on campus since the November election (Texas A&M, UT Austin, UT Dallas, University of North Texas, Rice, Abilene Christian University, Southern Methodist University ), TSU has been hit hardest by various recruiters. Four different campaigns, spread out over the past four months, have called for "joining the global white supremacy," "tar and feathering" opponents, and turning in undocumented immigrants. And as the number of incidents grow, so does the student body's upset with how TSU President Denise M. Trauth is handling them.

There isn't one group in particular that has led these recruitment efforts, but all of them are rooted in white supremacist ideals.

“White supremacists have consciously made the decision to focus their recruitment efforts on students," Greenblat said. "In some cases, [they've] openly boasted of efforts to establish a physical presence on campus."