The Smaland student club at Lund University has gotten itself into hot water for organizing an event where only "people of color" were welcome.
Whites were notoriously banned from a brunch organized by the student club earlier in February, whose aim was to provide "healing sessions" as well as a "safe and welcoming" environment for people of color.
The framing of the event sparked disapproval from politicians ranging from Education Minister Mats Persson to Philip Sandberg, a local politician, who questioned the appropriateness of taxpayer money being spent this way.
"Is it really reasonable that activities that base participation on one's skin color should be paid for with tax funds?" he asked rhetorically on social media. He also said that he contacted the municipal office in Lund to investigate whether more payments to Smaland's nation are planned. ''In that case, they should cease immediately,'' he wrote.
Writer and Lund University student Marcus Bjork accused the club of "unashamedly promoting ethnic and gender separatism," as the club recently organized a demonstration where "cis-men" were not welcome to participate (as opposed to non-binary males who were welcome). Posters plastered with slogans such as "cis-men out!" and "the future is non-binary" were proudly displayed on its Instagram account.
"The mere thought of excluding non-whites from events because of their skin color would be preposterous. How can racism and sexism be combated through increased separatism and by cultivating mistrust between groups?" Bjork wrote in his opinion piece.
The Smaland student club is one of Lund University's oldest and dates back to the 17th century. In the 1970s, it became openly socialist and today touts itself as "a red flame in an otherwise gray Lund." Many of its activities have therefore a clear political sentiment, often with a focus on issues such as feminism, veganism, LGBT issues, anti-racism, and the like.