Richard Spencer, a white nationalist, takes a brief tour of Texas A&M campus before a speaking event at the Memorial Student Center on Dec. 6, 2016 in College Station, Texas.
Photo Courtesy: Ralph Barrera/Austin American-Statesman/Tribune News Service
—A public discussion regarding Richard Spencer’s imminent visit to MSU will take place at the East Lansing Public Library on Feb. 5, at 6 p.m.
In a move that was met by controversy last month, MSU agreed to allow Spencer to speak on campus. Spencer, a white supremacist and the president of the alternative-right group National Policy Institute, will speak on March 5 in the auditorium of the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education.
The public discussion will be hosted by Stop Spencer at Michigan State University, a coalition that plans to resist Spencer’s visit to MSU and maintains the goal of “confronting oppression in all of its forms,” according to a post on the group’s public Facebook page.
“White supremacists like Richard Spencer are overtly racist, misogynist, and homophobic and organize for the genocide of non-white people, Jewish people, and LGBT+ folks,” the event page reads. “Richard Spencer attracts violent supporters who have attacked and targeted counter-protesters, black churches, mosques, and synagogues."
MSU initially denied an August 2017 request by Cameron Padgett for Spencer to visit and speak on campus. During that same month, a lawsuit was filed against MSU by Padgett’s attorney, Kyle Bristow, for not allowing Spencer audience at the time.
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