Approximately 100 stickers and fliers donning the statement “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE” were found around 6:30 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 6 spanning the northern side of campus, according to the director of facilities.

Security footage shows three male suspects pasting the fliers and stickers on walls and elevators at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 5, Police Chief Michael Trevis said.

El Camino College has become one of many colleges across the country that has been subject to this form of vandalism.

Similar instances have occurred on a national and international level. As early as Tuesday, Oct. 31 of this year, fliers reading “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE” were found extending in an area extending 4,000 miles, from University of Alberta in Alberta, Canada, to Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Speculation of the origin of this statement began on the forum site 4chan, where a now archived thread in the “Politically Incorrect” subsection was named “IT’S OKAY TO BE WHITE,” according to a Washington Post article dated Nov. 3.

Along with EC, the posters and stickers have been spotted in Rocky River, Ohio; at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minn.; at Tulane University in New Orleans; at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Md.; around college-campus rich Cambridge, Mass., including the Harvard Yard and at the University of Alberta in Canada.

At El Camino, the stickers and fliers were posted down Manhattan Beach Boulevard, starting at the Facilities Building and ending at the Industry and Technology Building, according to Thomas Brown, director of facilities, who has worked at El Camino for 16 years.

Campus police notified the facilities department of the flyers today, Monday, Nov. 6, around 6:30 a.m., Brown said.

Brown said a team of between four and six college employees were assigned to remove the fliers and stickers. Amongst them were painters, policemen, and police cadets.

The suspects traveled on foot, according to the police footage accessed by Trevis. As the case is still under investigation, Trevis said he could not provide screenshots or footage to The Union.

Trevis said that the EC Police Department intends on continuing with the investigation, and that it may move up to the district attorney level as the case unfolds. For now, his priority is identifying the suspects.

“Right now, what we’re trying to do is enhance the images,” Trevis said. “Let’s identify you. I want to put a name to you.”

Similar instances of vandalism have occurred on the EC campus in the past. Months ago, stickers picturing a single black sheep surrounded by white sheep were found across campus, Brown said.

In both cases, the vandalism was approached with similar protocol.

“Let me say this, one sticker is one too many. No no no, not even one. None. Not (permissible),” Trevis said. “It’s against the law and it’s unacceptable, absolutely unacceptable.”

Additional reporting done by Samuel Hill and Joseph Sanker.