Hate Mail Sent To Ewu Student Leader Anti-Semitic, Anti-Gay, Racist Literature Was Part Of National Campaign

Eastern Washington University has become the latest target of a national distributor of hate mail.

LaShund Lambert, president of the Associated Students of Eastern and an African American, last week received a seven-page collection of literature that slandered Jews, African Americans and homosexuals.

The anonymous mail, which arrived March 6 addressed to the “student body president,” was immediately denounced by Eastern administrators.

“Hate language, literature and behavior will not be tolerated - not now, not ever - at Eastern,” said acting President Niel Zimmerman.

Officials on Friday said the university will hold an anti-hate rally April 1 at the Pence Union Building in Cheney.

Campus police said the literature is identical to a mass mailing sent last fall to student officers at Central Washington University in Ellensburg and other schools across the nation.

The materials are postmarked in Greenville, Texas, but carry a Hillsboro, W.Va., return box number, said Lt. Kevin Higgins of Central’s campus police.

Ron Sperber, Eastern’s director of public safety, said he forwarded the literature to hate crime investigators with the Spokane Police Department and the FBI.

Lambert said Central’s student officers had warned him about the mass mailing.

“I was not really shocked; I was wondering when hate mail would come our direction,” he said. “That’s the kind of times we live in.”

The cover page of the literature was titled “You can ignore this and no one will ever know - except Jesus.” It used biblical scripture to support a call for students to begin a movement to combat Jews and people of color.

“Do not let the words “anti-Semitic,” “Nazi,” etc. scare you anymore,” the literature said.

Other pages attempt to discredit the origins of blacks, blame Jews for the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and denounce homosexuals.

Kelly Schmidt, a leader of Eastern’s InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, said the author is no Bible scholar.

“Students I work with certainly don’t view Christianity as supporting any of the comments put forth in that literature,” she said. “In fact, it’s just the opposite: Scripture talks a lot about reconciliation, love and inclusion rather than exclusion.”

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