A second racist Wi-Fi network has been reported on Welch Avenue

Welch+Avenue%2C+home+of+many+bars%2C+is+the+center+of+the+Ames+nightlife.

Chris Anderson/Iowa State Daily

Welch Avenue, home of many bars, is the center of the Ames nightlife.

Kaylie Crowe

A second racist Wi-Fi network reading “ThePlantation” has been discovered in Campustown less than a week after the first was reported by the Des Moines Register.

On Aug. 6, the Ames Police Department was called due to a racist Wi-Fi network on Welch Avenue. Now, there are two. One saying “Hang That N—–!” and a newly discovered Wi-Fi network saying “ThePlantation.”

People and employees within the range of the network were either unaware or had no comment when asked if they had seen the networks.

TJ CUPS employee Makhiya Mcintosh was unaware of the networks.

“If I were to see that in a public area that I have always felt safe at, it would make me feel uneasy and targeted for my race,” Mcintosh said.

Regardless if the signal is wrong or right, the police say looking into who lives in these places and uses this Wi-Fi would be against the person’s civil rights. As a result, the police say they cannot act on it.

“Unfortunately we cannot investigate,” said Geoff Huff, public information officer for the Ames Police. “Hopefully the publicity will cause them to change the network. This is not what we’re about, this is not what the university is about. I don’t understand why someone would do something so obviously wrong.”

This is is not the first time Iowa State has had concerns with racism. In a Campus Climate Survey conducted in the fall of 2017 completed by 7,326 members of the Iowa State community and conducted by Rankin & Associates Consulting, 4 percent of Iowa State students felt they had experienced hostile, intimidating or offensive conduct based on their race or ethnicity.

According to the Campus Climate Survey, some respondents spoke anonymously about experiencing racism on campus.

“Last fall at Iowa State when a plethora of white supremacists posters were distributed across campus,” one respondent wrote in the survey.

Another student wrote about their experiences with racism on campus.

“There were white supremacist stickers all over the bus stations closest to the international dorms Wallace and Wilson,” the respondent wrote. “They were racist and threatened any students of color or LGBTQ+ identities considering that QR codes were connected to theses stickers with links to KKK and white supremacy websites.”