Ohio State became the latest school to deny white supremacist Richard Spencer’s request for campus space. “The request was denied after the university determined that it is not possible to accommodate this request without substantial risk to public safety,” Ben Johnson, an Ohio State spokesman, said in a statement to The Lantern, the school’s student paper.
The University of Florida is considering allowing white nationalist Richard Spencer to speak on campus in October. After a year marked by sometimes violent protests against controversial speakers, and in the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, colleges are grappling with how best to handle divisive speakers like Spencer. Several public universities have denied requests by the National Policy Institute, which Spencer leads, to hold events on campus, citing safety concerns.
Students have filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University, claiming that the decision to deny supporters of white nationalist Richard Spencer permission to rent campus event space for a speech violates their constitutional rights. The lawsuit seeks to force the school to allow Spencer to speak on campus. The school has claimed that the decision was made due to significant concerns about public safety.
Students gathered at Harvard University on Wednesday to protest a speech by Charles Murray, an author who co-wrote a book discussing racial differences in intelligence. Murray has said his views are misunderstood. Murray became a symbol of the intense anger generated by some controversial speakers on college campuses in March, after trying to give a lecture about his most recent book at Middlebury College in Vermont. Students and outside protesters surrounded Murray, and left one faculty member injured.