| 'This was his
Independence Day' Smith had history of discipline problems with University and continued to have trouble at Indiana University by Mike Gunderson and Julie Westfall
Benjamin Nathaniel Smith, the former University student who killed himself after shooting at least 10 people last weekend, made his white supremacist views known at the University and at Indiana University, where he later enrolled. Smith was a University student from September 1996 until Feb. 14, 1998 after the University learned he had violated several University policies, said University Associate Chancellor for Public Affairs Bill Murphy. Murphy said Smith's first incident on campus was in October 1997, when he was accused of domestic violence, possession of a cannabis pipe and fighting — all during one week in his dorm room. Smith was placed on probation until graduation, required to attend counseling and an ethics and action course, and sentenced to community service. Murphy said he did not know if Smith attended the counseling sessions. Late January and early February 1998 saw a flurry of activity linked to Smith as hate-related posters appeared in Allen and Townsend Halls, as well as the Illini Union. Murphy said the University was never able to prove Smith put up the posters, but housing officials warned him to stop putting up the posters. “He asserted his rights to express his opinions, but did not admit anything,” Murphy said. “They told him they wanted it to stop and left it at that.” Murphy said the Dean of Students' Office received information 10 days later that Smith had been peeping into dorm rooms and housing officials found knives in his room. He said the dean's office formed charges against Smith on Feb. 13; Smith was withdrawn by his family the following day. Dean of Students Bill Riley said Smith would have likely been expelled had he not withdrawn. Murphy said Smith's transcript was flagged with a special note, telling whomever received it that he “withdrew with pending disciplinary action and a disciplinary encumbrance.” Murphy said the note had to be hand-typed on the transcript, leaving possibility for human error. “I assume it was done. I don't have any reason to believe it wasn't,” Murphy said. Joel Eskovitz, last year's campus editor at The Indiana Daily Student, said he thinks Smith came to Indiana University immediately after leaving Illinois. He said hate-related fliers started showing up around Bloomington, Ind. in May 1998 and many fliers were seen last Fourth of July. An Oct. 7 article in the paper said Smith met with Indiana Dean of Students Richard McKaig during the summer of 1998 and agreed he would not distribute hate literature on campus. McKaig was not available for comment, but said in the article that he suggested Smith learn the university's rules regarding hate messages. The article also said Smith reported that his distribution of literature brought him death threats as well as contact from people interested in his message. “FACTS that the Government and the Media Don't Want You to Know,” a pamphlet of hate propaganda, was distributed to Bloomington residents on Sept. 30, 1998, according to the Oct. 7 article. The article said the pamphlet was published by the Creativity Movement, also known as the World Church of the Creator. The article also said Smith represented the church locally and he had been a member of the Creativity Movement since June 1998. Eskovitz said the controversy Smith caused came to a head last November when a group of community members calling themselves “Bloomington United” held a rally “against hate.” A Nov. 11 story in The Indiana Daily Student said more than 500 people attended, including Bloomington Mayor John Fernandez. Smith attended the rally, holding a sign reading “No Hate Speech Means No Free Speech,” according to the article. Smith wrote a letter to the editor in response to the story. In the letter, Smith said the rally represented “a diverse gang of special-interest groups, none of which represent the silent white majority of the student body.” Smith said most students would reject a ban on so-called hate speech because “students realize such repression of civil liberties would deny freedom of expression and produce a violent reaction.” Smith said his literature was not “hate literature,” but rather “truth that reflects poorly on non-whites.”
|
