University of Florida is facing lawsuit, opens door for nationalist to speak

MIAMI—The University of Florida signaled that white nationalist Richard Spencer will be allowed to rent space on campus— but at a new date yet to be determined.

The move, announced Friday, came as the university faced a First Amendment lawsuit over a controversial event originally planned for Sept. 12.

In a letter to Gainesville-based lawyer Gary Edinger, whose client Cameron Padgett requested a meeting space on campus, the university said “it was never the intention” to permanently bar Spencer, an “alt-right” leader who planned the gathering of white nationalist groups in Charlottesville, Va. The event last month turned violent, leaving dozens injured and counterprotester Heather Heyer dead after one neo-Nazi sympathizer plowed his car into a crowd.

UF said its decision to not rent speaking space to Spencer on Sept. 12—due to security concerns—was “prudent and constitutional, and we continue to believe that it was.”

“Any new request by Mr. Spencer will be treated in the ordinary course consistent with all other such requests,” wrote general counsel Amy Hass.

The university’s letter is a response to a formal demand by Edinger the day before where he asked for “areas of flexibility” in the university’s decision to not rent speaking space to Spencer.

In the demand, Edinger said his client wants space for an audience of 400 and said he would be open to other venues on campus or dates Spencer could appear. If the university did not agree to host Spencer on campus, Edinger said he will file a lawsuit “within the next day or two.”