First heard about this from a 2013 Oberlin graduate who mentioned on the Oberlin alum site that Bleier was involved in posting a series of racist and anti-Semitic flyers with another student around Oberlin sometime during the graduate’s senior year which resulted in his leaving the college.
The graduate alleges that he was ultimately forced to leave after he attempted to defend the flyers as “a joke” though he maintains that he left Oberlin “in good standing”. According to UW-Madison’s entry on Bleier, he ended up graduating from URochester for undergrad in 2016.
I live in Wisconsin and pay a lot of attention to the news, especially news about the University of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Legislature. I’m betting some state legislators will step in soon to defend Bleier, if they have time during their legislative session, which soon will include considering a bill that criminalizes all participants in “riots” (i.e., protests).
Only thing is according to the Oberlin 2013 alum who was not only on campus during that incident, but also had a class with him, he was already exhibiting racist/anti-semitic attitudes when he was an Oberlin student at the time.
Also, it seems the incident was serious to result in his leaving Oberlin. .
Also, some of the social media posts which he allegedly made which prompted his current removal from TA duties were made within the last several weeks. As a result, the alum wasn’t surprised at those much more recent posts or the consequences he’s now facing.
Especially considering the circumstances behind his leaving Oberlin is in dispute. He stated he left “in good standing”.
The Oberlin alum who had a class with him during the time of the flyer incident in 2013 stated the word around campus at the time was that he was expelled. A screenshot of an old local news article I saw before it disappeared stated he was forced to leave and that was a factor for the local authorities in “reluctantly” dropping charges against him.
Here’s a link with not only the alleged White Supremacist posts, but also photos of racist/anti-semitic graffiti/flyers he allegedly made from his time at Oberlin:
Short of mass murder, there is very little that can be considered an overreaction to advocating for a group that advocates for and has a history of mass rape and attempted genocide.
I’m so sick of privileged little brats like this who think it’s freaking hilarious to mock people who react negatively to people who literally want them dead and for their people to either not exist or exist only in a far away land.
Why surprising? Colleges do not necessarily have political tests for admission, and he may have left Oberlin without any official indication of any reason that another college would ordinarily refuse him as a transfer applicant.
Being antisemitic isn’t a political position and URochester is known to be Jewish-friendly, hence the surprise. (You don’t build a reputation of being Jewish friendly when you admit known antisemites.) However it’d make sense if they weren’t aware of the reason for his dismissal.
UW chemists are not just scientists- I remember my professor/advisor’s office back in the Vietnam war days. Eclectic stuff there, some from his grad students from all over. We read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and wrote a one page paper on it as part of the Honors chemistry class (second semester was The Double Helix). I wonder if the current state government political trending is to avoid the extremes of that era as well. I’m sure the Chemistry department was not looking at his views when hired/taken on as a grad student.
A - Bleier was a liberal who became racist/anti-semetic while at Oberlin.
B - Bleier was a liberal who faked being racist/anti-semetic while at Oberlin.
C - Bleier has some severe psychological issues.