College community,

On Sunday, several stickers promoting a group called Patriot Front were affixed to locations on and nearby to our Middletown campus. The stickers were first reported to Safety and Security today.

Patriot Front has been identified, specifically by the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League, as a white nationalist hate group. The group has recently embarked upon a social media campaign in which it features, with images and text, the placement of stickers and flyers at college campuses across the country. Photos of stickers placed at SUNY Orange from yesterday have not yet hit the group's Twitter page, but we will not be surprised if they appear soon.

In this instance, we only found stickers at our Middletown campus. No stickers were located at the Newburgh campus.

The College reported the incident to Middletown Police, which is investigating. The police removed the stickers from locations off campus, while our security team removed one sticker from an inner campus map and several stickers from along the perimeter of campus. At this point, we have no reason to believe that anyone related to the College is connected with this group.

Hate groups, and particularly white supremacist organizations, continue their efforts to gain a foothold on college campuses nationally. At this time last year, in response to a similar campaign by another similar group, I affirmed my pride in the powerful actions SUNY Orange has taken since implementing a thoughtful, wide-ranging and sensitive Diversity and Inclusion Plan.

My message remains as strong and emphatic today as it was 12 months ago: there is no place at SUNY Orange for groups that espouse hate, violence, discrimination, bigotry or other actions that seek to divide or suppress.

This College remains fully committed to creating an environment in which diversity and inclusion are encouraged, supported and embraced by all members of our community, allowing for a climate that welcomes all.