We’ve been down this road before so look at this story with a large grain of salt.

Blake Seitz writes at National Review.

Facebook Controversy at the University of Georgia

Last month, a series of offensive Facebook posts directed at two University of Georgia student groups sparked a campus controversy. Before the controversy subsided weeks later, it led to two protests and a student-government resolution condemning UGA’s culture as unwelcoming — even unsafe — for minorities.

On November 3, a newly created Facebook account posting under the name of a university student (who has disavowed responsibility) left posts on the pages of two student groups. “Why can’t you dumb dirty n*****s stop stinking up the place? Let UGA be RIGHT for good WHITE Christian students,” read a post left on the Black Affairs Council page. Another post on the LGBT Resource Center’s page read “Burn in hell f*****s.”

Subsequent posts followed, all generated by an anonymous antagonist who stole the identities of real UGA students. As an official investigation is ongoing, all claims about the antagonist and his motives are speculative. If we are to speculate, however, three explanations stand out as plausible.

The posts were created to intimidate and belittle minority students. This is the obvious explanation, and it has dominated media coverage of the incident. The fake Facebook account in question, which was littered with Confederate, Nazi, and fringe-right symbolism, lends credence to this explanation. Additionally, hateful acts have occurred at UGA in recent years.

The posts were created to defame the students whose Facebook identities had been stolen. As reported by the campus newspaper, several weeks before the incident a public post titled “Lets ruin this f***ers life” was created on Pastebin — the target was the UGA student whose name appeared on the first post. This suggests that the primary intent of the Facebook posts may have been to “ruin the lives” of several UGA students by making them appear racist, and not to target student groups.

The posts were created to galvanize left-wing campus groups. The UGA case bears more than passing similarity to “hate–crime hoaxes,” anonymous attacks that are perpetrated not by racists or homophobes but by radical activists impersonating them. Recent incidents at Vassar, Oberlin, Central Connecticut State, and the University of Wyoming are illustrative. “Hoaxes” even have precedent at UGA, where in 1998 it was discovered that a series of homophobic threats and arsons had been committed by their ostensible target, Jerry Kennedy, who is gay. He was charged with three years of probation.