Some at East Carolina University have already referred to the anonymous letter’s request for a White Student Union to parallel the Black Student Union as “racist” and “hate speech.”

Here’s more from the College Fix:

Call For ‘White Student Union’ Prompts Death Threats, Massive Campus Unrest

“Will someone explain to me why there is no ‘White Student Union’ I feel underrepresented.”

Those 15 words have sparked a massive controversy at East Carolina University, including death threats and a campus forum hosted by the school’s Black Student Union.

Some have called the statement – an anonymous “rant” published recently in the campus newspaper alongside many others in the publication’s regular “Pirate Rants” feature – racist, racially charged, hateful, hate speech, an attack on the school’s Black Student Union and more. Outraged students said they wanted the comment censored or left on the cutting room floor.

In fact, the editor in chief of the campus newspaper has received death threats, including one that called for her beheading by ISIS, reports WTCI.

But guess what? It turns out the comment has some basis.

“The Pirate Rant was not the main issue, it was like a tipping point for a lot of the other things that have happened on campus and I think that students are looking for a little bit more representation in all aspects of ECU’s campus, whether it be in SGA or Student Media or whatever,” said Melissa Haithcox-Dennis, director of the Ledonia Wright Cultural Center, the East Carolinian newspaper reports.