Though students say they've been horrified by several racial incidents at Western Maryland College this semester, they say the incidents provide an opportunity to challenge the anger that has been simmering below the surface at the usually placid campus.
"In a way, this has been a good thing," said Brad Zisser, a sophomore who is white.
"It will get people thinking about the way they interact. A lot of the problem is that this is a delicate issue, and people don't want to face it," he said. "People may not necessarily be part of the problem, but they think it doesn't affect them. Whether you pick a side or not, you're involved."
The college's Black Student Union is sponsoring a "Take a Stand Against Racism" demonstration from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday in front of the library. The Rev. Isaac Karoor of nearby St. John Catholic Church will discuss the church's position on racism Thursday at 7 p.m. at the church.
"Words can come out easily, but actions don't," said Malaika Che-Mponda, a student from Tanzania who is black. "Everyone is racist in some way. People don't want to be honest about what they think."
Students say they want to ensure that the issue isn't just dropped after the student-sponsored demonstrations and talks at the college, where there are 60 to 80 black students and about 50 international students among an enrollment of 1,200.
"I think people are looking for the easy solution," Mr. Zisser said. "They're looking to form a group and then think it's solved. But it has to come each day with each time someone interacts with someone from another group."
Students say racial tensions, which surfaced in September with hate literature being left in residence halls and catalogs advertising racist publications being sent to campus mailboxes, boiled over when someone used gasoline to burn an epithet into the college golf course Nov. 1.
Early one morning three weeks later, campus security guards found that someone had sprayed a racial epithet with a fire extinguisher taken from Norman Albert Ward hall.
The dormitory is locked each night by campus security, said Michela Patterson, a senior admissions counselor and coordinator of multicultural services.
"I'm not surprised," Dariah James, a sophomore who is black, said about the most recent incidents. "I figured it would happen sooner or later. This is a predominantly white area that now has an influx of minorities."
The racist literature -- some of which was placed in the doorjambs of rooms occupied by minority and international students -- was attributed to the National Alliance, a right wing group organized in 1970 that boasts 8,500 members nationwide.
"It could be as simple as one or two people coming from the student community or the outside providing assistance to this group," said Philip Sayre, WMC's dean of student affairs. "It's apparently a recruitment process they're doing. It's amazing to think that a couple of people could turn the campus topsy-turvy, but it's happened," he said.
Calls to the National Alliance headquarters in Hillsboro, W.Va., // were answered by a recorded message stating that the United States was being "Third World-ized" by an influx of immigrants and that the Jewish population was at fault for whites becoming a minority.
College students said the group's literature distributed on campus called the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. a "beast" and claimed that AIDS could be contracted from Jews.
Also, students said a sign touting "White Power" with a swastika was hung briefly in Winslow Center, a classroom building.
Mr. Sayre said Western Maryland is not the only college the National Alliance has targeted for recruitment.
The college's Campus Safety officers said students at Gettysburg (Pa.) College and Montgomery College received similar literature last spring.
Also, the Chronicle of Higher Education reported in its Oct. 26 issue that someone used the Internet account of a professor with Texas A & M University at Corpus Christi to spread alliance literature.
Officials at Texas A & M have cleared the professor of involvement in the incident.
"Some of these national organizations have become very sophisticated," Mr. Sayre said. "They are using legal means -- such as the U.S. bulk mail system -- to spread this information."
But some students said they believe an increase in the number of minority transfer and international students this year may have offended a racist either in Westminster or in the college community.
"The freshman class this year is twice as large as ones in previous years," said Laurie Clark, a sophomore who is white. "While the percentage [of minorities] is the same, it looks like a lot more black students. I guess someone in town got upset about that.
"Everyone on campus has heard all the rumors about the KKK being rampant in Carroll County."
In fact, most students say they want to believe the incidents originated off campus, particularly because the overt racism has strained racial relations in the community.
"After something like this, you hesitate because you doubt what you don't know about your friends," Ms. James said.
"But with me, there is no difference. We were friends before this happened, we will be friends while it is happening and we will be friends after it is over."