UMass-Lowell Can't Suspend Waltham Man With Neo-Nazi Ties

LOWELL, MA — University of Massachusetts at Lowell officials are frustrated they "cannot legally ban all messages of hate from our lives" but promised to investigate "threats to members of the campus community," according to a letter sent to students and faculty last week.

"Colleges and universities for decades, and especially in recent years, have seen an increase in hate messaging both from their campus communities as well as from organizations and individuals who visit campus expressly to promote hatred and division knowing the law and the First Amendment limits universities’ legal ability to prevent it," the letter from the university's executive cabinet said. "Indeed, for many of the members of these hate groups, the attention from attempted bans or efforts to sanction or punish them is what they most crave."

Thursday's letter was sent nine days after Patch reported on an online broadcast by members of NSC-131, a Massachusetts-based hate group, that included Liam McNeil, a UMass-Lowell student who graduated from Waltham High School in 2018.

"If you're in college, you should be getting together with all the other guys that think like you and start circling the frat parties and bullying the kids that race mix," Chris Hood, who founded NSC-131 in 2019, said in one of three clips posted by a Waltham-based anti-hate group. "Just start dominating the parties, take over the campus. Same policies as out here, just on campus with the youth."

Hood made his comments on Telegram, a cloud-based instant messaging platform. The videos were posted on Twitter by Waltham Night's Watch, a group that says it documents "hate groups, hate crimes, and far-right activity in Waltham."

"We're pretty much a frat, just racist," McNeil said of NSC-131. "If you're going to start a frat, we suggest the name Kappa, Kappa, Kappa."

Last week's letter from UMass-Lowell leaders did not mention any student or group by name but promised the school "exhaustively investigates" every report of hate speech, crimes and actions or speech that violates the school's code of student conduct.

"While we cannot comment on individual investigations, we can assure you that we will hold all students accountable to our Student Code of Conduct that was designed to make UML a place where all can live, learn and work in a safe and inclusive environment," the executive cabinet said. "We share your deep frustration that we cannot legally ban all messages of hate from our lives and it is in these moments that we are called to embody the values we claim as our core."

NSC stands for "Nationalist Social Club," according to the Anti-Defamation League, and 131 is the alphanumeric code for ACA, or Anti-Communist Action. There are chapters around the United States and in France, Hungary and Germany. Members of the group participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C.

The group renamed itself the Nationalist Social Club in early 2020 and expanded in May 2020 when the white supremacist group Legion of St. Ambrose fell apart and many of its members joined NSC-131. Since then, according to ADL, the group has added chapters in Florida, Kentucky, Texas and Virginia. ADL said it also identified members in Arizona, Indiana, New Hampshire and New York.

The nonprofit Counter Extremism Project says NSC-131 is a "leaderless, decentralized organization" and lists Hood, previously of Malden, as its "alleged founder." During the Jan. 6 riot, screenshots taken from Telegram, the encrypted messaging app NSC-131 uses to communicate, showed members holding up the group's logo outside the Capitol.

"Known NSC tactics include antagonizing social-justice protesters, vandalism, and posting stickers and other propaganda," the Counter Extremism Project says in its entry on NSC-131. "NSC members have joined right-wing and pro-police rallies where they have displayed Nazi flags and symbols, as well as engaged in physical altercations."

Dave Copeland writes for Patch and can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).