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English professor Lee Bebout intended to be thought-provoking when he offered a course at Arizona State University (ASU) titled 鈥淩ace Theory and the Problem of Whiteness.鈥� He had no idea that it would also provoke the wrath of, first, Fox News viewers, and then, white supremacists, sparking protests on campus, and yet ultimately drawing the explicit support of ASU administrators.
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But that鈥檚 what happened after Bebout listed the course for ASU鈥檚 spring semester. Now, having survived a barrage of hate mail and protests, he can only say he鈥檚 relieved the ordeal appears to be over.

鈥淚鈥檝e been a lot less stressed lately,鈥� he told Hatewatch. 鈥淭here were moments of anxiety in the beginning of all this, but once I got support from folks, the anxiety subsided tremendously.鈥�

The problem began a little while after the course was listed, when an ASU student named Lauren Clark wrote for Campus Reform, a right-wing organization founded by and Morton Blackwell鈥檚 Leadership Institute. The institute is devoted to policing American campuses for 鈥渢he conduct and misconduct of university administrators, faculty, and students.鈥�

The next day, Clark appeared on Fox News with host Elisabeth Hasselbeck to attack Bebout鈥檚 course in more explicit terms.

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Clark and Hasselbeck listed the texts 鈥� which included such titles as The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, Critical Race Theory, Everyday Language of White Racism, Playing in the Dark, and The Alchemy of Race and Rights 鈥� and Clark said they suggested a trend: 鈥淎ll of these books have a disturbing trend and that鈥檚 pointing to white people as a root cause of social injustices for this country.鈥�

鈥淐learly we have a lot of work to go, as a society, in terms of racial tension,鈥� Clark continued. 鈥淏ut having a class that suggests an entire race is the problem is inappropriate, wrong, and, frankly, counterproductive. I wonder what students like myself are taking out of this course when they learn all about all this negative racial tension out in society. There鈥檚 a lot of negative implications here.鈥�

In reality, the course is a fairly standard academic study of race in modern society. As ASU administrators the controversy erupted: "This course uses literature and rhetoric to look at how stories shape people's understandings and experiences of race. It encourages students to examine how people talk about 鈥� or avoid talking about 鈥� race in the contemporary United States. This is an interdisciplinary course, so students will draw on history, literature, speeches and cultural changes 鈥� from scholarly texts to humor. The class is designed to empower students to confront the difficult and often thorny issues that surround us today and reach thoughtful conclusions rather than display gut reactions. A university is an academic environment where we discuss and debate a wide array of viewpoints."

Within hours of the segment having aired, Bebout and ASU were from around the country. Some of the messages included threats; contained a cryptic religious message suggesting the professor deserved to be murdered.

But that was just the beginning. A short time later, members of a neo-Nazi youth organization called (NYF), a youth-oriented arm of the white nationalist organization , began plastering the ASU campus with flyers featuring Bebout鈥檚 portrait and the stark label 鈥淎nti-White.鈥� They also went to Bebout鈥檚 neighborhood and distributed them there.

An NYF spokesman, Angelo John Gage, told that their 鈥淥peration Bad Teacher鈥� program targeted Bebout because his course was 鈥渞acist.鈥� (Gage himself has a long history of racism and anti-Semitism, including stints on The White Voice, a white nationalist website, and Stormfront.) He also claimed none of his members had threatened Bebout.

"No longer will we have our identity destroyed and our people defamed," . "This week, several of National Youth Front's members went to ASU to raise awareness that we will no longer tolerate this antiwhite agenda. Over four hundred flyers were delivered over several days to both Lee Bebout's neighborhood and ASU." A to being the person seen in a video promoting the campaign.

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Early in March, when ASU students organized a protest in support of the embattled professor Bebout鈥檚 course, as well as the work of an associate professor at the school named Robert Poe, 鈥淗ess鈥� and a cadre of like-minded right-wing extremists to counter-protest. While Bebout maintained a low profile throughout the ordeal, Poe went out and confronted his antagonists face to face.

University administrators at the time remained mostly mum in the face of the controversy, leading some academics from other schools where similar courses are taught to wonder why Bebout had been 鈥渓eft out to dry.鈥�

鈥淚 haven鈥檛 seen the administration come to his defense in the way that I would expect any university to do when an employee and his family are facing death threats,鈥� Purdue University professor Bill Mullen .

But recently, the ASU administration has emerged from its shell to offer a robust defense 鈥� and expressions of support 鈥� for Bebout and the course.

ASU President Michael Crow told the student paper, , that he and a vice provost both examined the course carefully and found that it was well within the framework the school hoped to offer academically.

鈥淸The] course looked like a pretty good critical thinking course to me,鈥� Crow said. 鈥淚t looked like it was doing what it was supposed to do, which is to deal with a complex subject through literature and get students interested in talking and writing and thinking about that complex subject.鈥�

ASU administrator James Rund that appeared in The Arizona Republic condemning recent manifestations of racist hate groups: 鈥淭here have been a series of hate speech incidents over recent weeks in Tempe and Mesa, orchestrated by Neo-Nazi groups and hate preachers. Some of the incidents included anti-Black, anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and anti-Muslim speech and intimidation. This behavior and these sentiments do not reflect the values of our community.鈥�

Crow also made note of these outside influences: 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 represent our values; they don鈥檛 represent the way we think," he said. "So we can ask them to stop, but they don鈥檛 have to.鈥�

Bebout said the community support he鈥檚 received has been tremendous. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been really amazing,鈥� he said. 鈥淥bviously people at ASU have been solid, but people from all over the country (and other countries) who do this sort of work or see a value in it have reached out as well.鈥�

Bebout told Hatewatch that he would be offering the course again in the future, likely in Spring 2016, with some adjustments: 鈥淚鈥檒l be tweaking the syllabus a bit now that I had a chance to give it a run through with undergraduates.鈥�

He noted that many observers of the interaction between mainstream conservatism and far-right extremism have focused on how white supremacists 鈥渃ode and frame their rhetoric in ways that make them acceptable to mainstream news sources.鈥�

鈥淢y situation seems to show that the inverse is also true,鈥� Bebout noted. 鈥淔ox News, Campus Reform, and other organizations give cover and provide 鈥榬esearch鈥� and 鈥榝acts鈥� for white supremacist groups.鈥�

Bebout explained that he and a graduate student had been carefully following white supremacist/nationalist sites even before the controversy erupted, and particularly afterward.

鈥淪ince my class came under the attention of white supremacists, I noticed that NYF and other groups regularly post stories from Fox News and Campus Reform as 鈥榩roof鈥� for their ideology,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hile these outlets like Fox News and Campus Reform certainly use different rhetoric than National Youth Front, it would be erroneous to say that they are completely separate discursively or ideologically (one being colorblind and the other being explicitly racist). Indeed, I am fascinated with how much they share in common in terms of rhetoric and ideology.鈥�

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