Auburn University has cancelled a scheduled lecture by Richard Spencer, an alt-right, white nationalist leader who champions the creation of a “white homeland.”
Spencer’s speech on the taxpayer-funded campus had been scheduled for Tuesday at James E. Foy Hall, reports Inside Higher Ed.
“In consultation with law enforcement, Auburn canceled the Richard Spencer event scheduled for Tuesday evening based on legitimate concerns and credible evidence that it will jeopardize the safety of students, faculty, staff and visitors,” officials at Auburn said in a statement.
Spencer, who had paid $700 for security and to rent space for his speech, has announced he will show up at Auburn on Tuesday, anyway.
“They think they have shut this down but they haven’t,” Spencer told The Auburn Plainsman, Auburn’s student newspaper.
“I will give a speech on their campus. It is a public place. I think Auburn University is naive and has totally misunderstood who I am if they think that I am going to politely back out of this. I will be there 100 percent,” Spencer also said.
“Auburn is going to rue the day that they made this total bullshit decision. I will not back down. I will be there. This is going to be so much bigger than they ever imagined.”
Spencer is very popular among fellow white nationalists. However, his following is relatively meager from a national standpoint. For example, a conference he put on in November was dwarfed by the annual gathering of dudes who like to dress up in “My Little Pony” outfits. (RELATED: White Nationalist Leader Richard Spencer Defends Conference Attendance Compared To BronyCon)
After his speech got cancelled, on Friday, Spencer posted a tweet referring to himself in the third-person.
#LETSPENCERSPEAK! https://t.co/3ttH1AzZZg
— Richard Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) April 14, 2017
Spencer has since pinned the tweet to the top of his Twitter feed.
Auburn officials had previously issued a statement distancing the school from Spencer.
“We strongly deplore his views, which run counter to those of this institution,” the April 12 statement said. “While his event isn’t affiliated with the university, Auburn supports the constitutional right to free speech. We encourage the campus community to respond to speech they find objectionable with their own views in civil discourse and to do so with respect and inclusion.”
Prior to Auburn’s cancellation of his speech, Spencer had predicted a standing-room only crowd.
My appearance at Auburn is going to sellout. https://t.co/pNPAJ8IuHR
— Richard Spencer (@RichardBSpencer) April 14, 2017
Some students had protested Spencer’s planned speech.
One adorably misinformed Auburn student, Madison Pooley, advised Auburn administrators that “the Constitution draws lines of what speech is protected,” according to The Opelika-Auburn News.
“Hate speech is not protected under the First Amendment, nor should it be protected and welcomed in a university environment.”
As UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh has noted, neither the First Amendment nor any other part of the U.S. Constitution contains a hate speech exception.
Pooley charged that “Spencer and his affiliated organizations have advocated for extreme and violent actions against minorities including the genocide of black Americans.”
In December, Spencer spoke at Texas A&M University. “America, at the end of the day, belongs to white men,” he said during that speech.
His appearance at Texas A&M caused officials to chance a school policy about who can speak on campus, according to The Dallas Morning News.
The new rule requires that only the administration and officially-recognized student groups can invite guest speakers. Also, groups which invite speakers are responsible for damages that result in the wake of speeches.
A Texas A&M alumnus had invited Spencer.
Spencer was famously sucker-punched while he was giving an interview on a D.C. sidewalk during the weekend of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. (RELATED: Alt-Right Leader Gets Sucker Punched During Inauguration Protests)
In February, Spencer was kicked out of the Conservative Political Action Conference after taking questions and conversing for almost an hour with surrounding reporters and attendees. (RELATED: White Nationalist Richard Spencer Booted From CPAC)
Spencer has said he rejects conservativism because conservatives refuse to represent only white interests, according to the Anti-Defamation League.
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