The Center for European and German Studies' April 28 conference on the rise of right-wing radicalism in the United States and Europe has generated controversy resulting in conservative political commentator Michael Graham's discussion of the conference on Fox News. The poster advertising the event originally included the depiction of a swastika, and the online description of the event included a "related link" to the Tea Party Express rally at Boston Commons that took place April 14. Last Friday, Graham responded to the incorporation of the Tea Party into the description of extremist groups on Fox Business Channel, asserting that the use of the swastika symbol to promote the event coupled with the link to the Tea Party event, implied that the University, as the host of the conference, was linking the Tea Party with neo-Nazism.

Graham wrote on his website, "It will be fascinating to listen to Brandeis faculty members trying to link the Tea Party to political violence when, just months ago, they hosted an actual terrorist bomber," referring to founder of the Weather Underground Bill Ayers' visit to campus last spring.

Prof. Sabine von Mering (GRALL), the director of the Center for German and European Studies, said in an interview with the Justice that she received a multitude of e-mail responses after Michael Graham posted the link on his website, many of which were from members of the Tea Party.

Von Mering added that the controversy was completely unexpected because the reference to the Tea Party was only incorporated into one presentation, Chip Berlet's talk titled "From Tea Parties to Armed Militias."

"Three papers cannot do justice to the many facets of the American right wing, but the idea is to have some point of comparison to the European perspective and discern similarities and differences between right-wing political activity on both continents," she said.

The statement on the conference's website explained that the swastika logo was removed from the event page providing information about the conference and that the implied link between the Tea Party and the Neo-Nazi movement was unintentional.

Senior Vice President for External Communications and Affairs Andrew Gully wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that the logo was removed last Friday because "it created an impression that Brandeis and conference organizers equated a range of organizations, including the Tea Party in the U.S., with right-wing extremist groups in America and Europe and that was not the intent."

Gully wrote that he did not find the controversy over the logo unexpected. "It's the nature of advocacy news today, so I wasn't surprised. Issues are boiled down to hot button sound bites and all context is lost," he wrote.

Von Mering said that the use of the swastika was not intended to generate controversy or imply a connection with right-wing radical groups but instead to draw attention to the conference itself.

"We saw the use of the swastika as a provocative way of raising awareness on campus about the conference," she said.

Von Mering noted that the decision to remove the swastika was independent of the attention Michael Graham drew to the link and instead stemmed from the fact that "even in our own community some people were upset by the symbol because of personal connections with the Holocaust."

Nipun Marwaha '12, the president of the Brandeis Republicans, said in an interview with the Justice that while he believed there was an implication regarding the usage of the swastika and the incorporation of the Tea Party into the conference, he did not believe the swastika logo should have been removed.

"Though I felt that the logo was definitely abusive and misapplied to Tea Parties, I am a strong believer in the freedom of speech, and them removing the logo was kind of a step back. While I completely disagree with the association that the Tea Party members are Nazis, removing the logo was kind of their way of backing away from their right to free speech as well," he said.

As a result of the controversy, von Mering said that there will be security guards at the conference on Wednesday but emphasized that the controversy would not be the main focus of the event.

"If people expect the conference to be about the Tea Party they will be extremely disappointed," she said.

Profs. David Cunningham (SOC) and Mingus Mapps (POL), who will serve as the moderators for the conference, did not respond for comment by press time despite repeated requests for interviews.

-Harry Shipps and Nashrah Rahman contributed reporting.