University to let white nationalist speak on campus

CLEVELAND — The University of Cincinnati says it will allow white nationalist leader Richard Spencer to speak on campus, while Ohio State University says it cannot accommodate a rental request for a Nov. 15 speech but is considering alternatives.

UC president Neville Pinto said in an email Friday that the university is finalizing details of Spencer’s visit and promises to make safety a priority. Pinto said Spencer’s “ideology of hate and exclusion is antithetical” to the university’s core values but that as a public institution it had to allow Spencer to speak because of his constitutional right to free speech.

“It is the power and promise of (our) diversity to change the world for the better that has the hatefilled so unsettled,” Pinto said.

The director of Ohio State’s legal office, Christopher Culley, said it couldn’t accommodate a request for Spencer to speak on Nov. 15 “without substantial risk to public safety” but expects to decide if there are “viable” alternatives soon.

An attorney for Spencer’s associates, Kyle Bristow, said he would hold off on suing the schools after earlier declaring they had until Friday to agree to make campus space available for Spencer or face litigation.

The Ohio universities are the latest targeted for appearances by Spencer since he participated in an August white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that led to deadly violence.

The Charlottesville rally left universities across the U.S., including UC Berkeley, bracing for more clashes between right-wing extremists and those who oppose them. It also left schools struggling to ensure campus safety.