On August 12, a rally for the “Unite the Right” group caused massive chaos in the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia. The rally consisted of white supremacists as well as other groups with similar values. Things became extremely violent and a car was driven into a group of protesters, killing one person and hospitalizing 19 others.
After the events in Charlottesville, colleges have begun to respond to these groups wanting to rally on their campuses.
One of these colleges is the University of Florida which denied Richard Spencer, a white nationalist who contributed to the events in Charlottesville, the opportunity to come and speak on the UF campus September 12. While originally they were going to allow him to speak in respect to the First Amendment, considering the violence that occurred in Virginia, it is no longer happening due to the safety risk of everyone on campus.
“The University of Florida remains unwaveringly dedicated to free speech and the spirit of public discourse. However, the First Amendment does not require a public institution to risk imminent violence to students and others,” said university President W. Kent Fuchs.
Other schools have responded to the rally including Florida State University which has also made it known that they will have nothing to do with the mindset these groups are supporting.
“What happened was a clear display of racism and intimidation by white supremacists, and I condemn these hateful and violent acts” said John Thrasher, Florida State University President.
Some colleges are struggling to decide where they will draw the line when dealing with white supremacists and others like them.
Purdue University took the approach of not wanting to give the groups more attention than they were already receiving, as the president saw it to be an attention grab. When leaflets advertising white supremacy showed up on the Purdue University campus, the university President Mitch Daniels responded,”This is a transparent effort to bait people into overreacting, thereby giving a minuscule fringe group attention it does not deserve, and that we decline to do.”
While colleges may take different strategies in terms of handling the rallies and protests, the movement is still continuing across the United States.
Grace Becker // News Editor
Photo Credit: © Zach D Roberts
