Essay submitted for 2004 scholarship awarded by white-supremacist group Stormfront
A CU instructor’s scholarship essay recently discovered from a 2004 contest sponsored by a white-supremacist group prompted a response from Chancellor Bud Peterson, who said there is no reason to believe the teacher discriminated against students.
Joshua McNair, who is a master’s student teaching in the English department, wrote the essay in 2004 for Stormfront, an organization that promotes the broad ideas of white nationalism and white pride. The organization’s motto is “white pride world wide.” It is run primarily through an Internet discussion forum.
The essay won McNair a scholarship in the contest, which was only open to white students.
McNair is also the founder of the student group Student Advocates for Free Expression, which led the charge to bring noted Holocaust denier David Irving to the CU campus in September 2004.
Chancellor Bud Peterson said in a prepared statement he was unaware of any complaints against McNair, and there is no evidence that his personal views have affected his duties as an instructor.
Peterson also said CU is an institution that upholds the freedom to exchange ideas and free speech, but also does not support discriminatory behavior.
“We also strongly uphold all of our regulations regarding discrimination and harassment in and out of the classroom,” Peterson said.
Max Karson, publisher of the leaflet “The Yeti,” jumpstarted the dialogue by highlighting McNair in his February edition.
McNair’s essay gave his description of the plight of the white race, saying whites are in a “fairly precarious position today.”
“For years patriotic Whites have been sitting back and stomaching all the miserable progress of our society, complaining amongst themselves and talking about the day we take our society back,” McNair wrote.
McNair wrote that whites need to organize and regain power in traditional institutions. He gave the example of a businessman who promotes a white worker at a company, as well as having white sympathizers on staff at more colleges and universities.
“Let’s start organizing all of our people so that we can utilize their respective positions,” McNair wrote. “Then, let’s organize our most promising young people and begin placing them where they need to be so that they can in turn help the young people of tomorrow.”
McNair is a member of the English Honor Society Sigma Tau Delta and is a master’s candidate seeking a degree in English literature and creative writing.
