Alleged white supremacist investigated

A graduate student was identified in a Feb. 12 article in the Wilmington News Journal as involved in a white supremacist hate group.

After being contacted by the newspaper, the University looked into the matter and found that no complaints had been made about the activities of the student in the article, Robert Huber, who is a graduate student in physics. Nor was there any indication that he shared any of his personal political viewpoints in his activities as a graduate student.

The University also discussed the matter with the American Civil Liberties Union. Its advice and that of the University’s legal counsel is that the University does not have grounds to make any changes in Huber’s status at the University.

President David P. Roselle noted that a “fundamental tenet of our nation is that my objection or, as in this case, the University’s objection, is not sufficient reason to deny the right of free speech.” While the University does not impose sanctions on political beliefs, he said, it will not hesitate to act if those beliefs lead to actions that are harmful or threatening to others.

In an open letter to the community, Roselle elaborated on concerns about the situation, calling Huber’s apparent beliefs “repugnant.” Still, he wrote, investigations by the News Journal and the University “have not suggested any criminal activity by Mr. Huber nor have they provided credible evidence of him being a threat to those at the University or in the community.”

“If we later learn that Mr. Huber’s ugly thoughts have led to criminal acts or threats, the University will have grounds for taking action. We would then do so,” he said.

In the letter, Roselle quoted the words of Woodrow Wilson, who, speaking about freedom of speech said, “If a man is a fool, the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise that fact by speaking.”

“Perhaps you will agree that, so long as the Hubers of the world restrict themselves to mere words, we are better off letting them make fools of themselves,” Roselle wrote.

Roselle said that Huber was not teaching a class during the spring semester and that he was “not aware of any plan on the part of the Department of Physics to make such an assignment.”