A law professor doesn’t “think there is any such thing as free speech,” and his university president was “surprised and even shocked” to learn that federal law required his school to host white nationalist Richard Spencer on Thursday.
University of Florida law professor Kenneth Nunn made the remarks in an Oct. 11 panel discussion, reported Campus Reform. University president Kent Fuchs responded by sending an email last week to the university’s student body.
Identifying as a “First Amendment radical,” Nunn said he does “not think that the First Amendment should define what the parameters of speech should be.”
“Words can and do hurt,” said Nunn, adding that “hate speech” should be combated in other ways than a “marketplace of ideas.”
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People on the receiving end of “hate speech” have used drugs, become depressed, and even committed suicide, Nunn noted.
“If you are like me, I expect you are surprised and even shocked to learn that UF is required by law to allow Mr. Spencer to speak his racist views on our campus,” Fuchs said in email sent to the university’s community. The president simultaneously argued that the community should ostracize Spencer and his followers to “block his attempt for further visibility” and “not let Mr. Spencer’s message of hate and racism go unchallenged.”
Alt-right figure Spencer will speak at the University of Florida on Thursday. The university cancelled a planned September speech by Spencer but under threat of a federal lawsuit, is allowing the Thursday speech to occur. The estimate for security costs is $500,000 reported Orlando Weekly.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Fuchs and Nunn for comment, but received none in time for press.
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