'White supremacists step up recruiting US college students'

White supremacists are engaged in an unprecedented outreach effort to attract and recruit students on American college campuses, according to a report.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish non-governmental organisation based in the US, said white supremacists are using various on-the-ground methods, including distributing racist fliers and organising on-campus speeches by racist activists, as outreach to recruit students, USA Today reported on Monday.

It catalouged 107 incidents of white supremacist fliering on college campuses since the school year began in September 2016, with surge of activity since January 2017.

Racist fliers and posters have been reported on campuses in at least 25 states, spanning from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, to the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California.

"White supremacists have consciously made the decision to focus their recruitment efforts on students and have in some cases openly boasted of efforts to establish a physical presence on campus," Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL's CEO stated in a release accompanying the report.

"While there have been recruitment efforts in the past, never have we seen anti-Semites and white supremacists so focused on outreach to students on campus."

The ADL said that the uptick in activity on college campuses is part of a push to move white supremacist activism "from online chatter to real-world action".

--IANS

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