White nationalist barred from speaking
A Michigan lawyer said he’ll file a federal lawsuit against Ohio State University, which Friday night let a deadline pass before announcing it was rejecting a request to rent space for a speaking appearance by white nationalist Richard Spencer.
“No response from OSU by deadline,” Attorney Kyle J. Bristow of Canton, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, said in a Twitter message at 7:11 p.m. Bristow earlier this week had given Ohio State until 5 p.m. Friday to give an “unequivocal and unconditional assertion” that it would allow Spencer’s appearance.
“I will shortly draft the complaint. Suit will be filed at (Southern District of) Ohio” in Columbus, said Bristow, who is representing Cameron Padgett, a graduate student at Georgia State University helping to organize Spencer’s college tours.
“Alea iacta est,” he concluded, which in Latin means: “The die is cast.”
Ohio State initially said last week it couldn’t accommodate a request for a Nov. 15 Spencer speaking event for safety reasons, but indicated it would respond by Friday with alternatives. In rejecting the request, Ohio State stood by its concerns over safety in a letter Friday night sent electronically and regular U.S. mail to Bristow by Michael H. Carpenter, an attorney with Carpenter Lipps & Leland LLP, a Columbus law firm retained to represent Ohio State in the matter.
“The University values freedom of speech. Nonetheless, the University has determined that it is not presently able to accommodate Mr. Padgett’s request to rent space (for Spencer) at the University due to substantial risk to public safety, as well as material and substantial disruption to the work and discipline of the University,” Carpenter wrote.
“In reaching this determination, the University has considered the information presently available, including, but not limited to, consultation with law enforcement, and (Thursday’s) events at the University of Florida.”
Demonstrators opposed to Spencer’s University of Florida appearance Thursday afternoon substantially outnumbered his supporters. His speech, presented with police in riot gear present, was largely drowned out with boos, heckling and chants for him to leave. Spencer said he considered the event a success even though he was booed and “wasn’t able to talk to the people.”
Outside the event, Gainesville police reported a silver Jeep stopped to argue with a group of protesters and began offering Nazi salutes and chants and threatening the protesters. One of the men, identified by Gainesville police as Tyler Tenbrink, 28, of Richmond, Texas, produced a handgun. Two brothers with Tenbrink, William Fears, 30, and Colton Fears, 28, of Pasadena, Texas, began encouraging him to shoot the victims, police said.
Tenbrink fired once at the group, police said, striking a nearby building. The three were later arrested late Thursday night about 20 miles north of Gainesville. All are being held on a charge of attempted homicide in the Alachua County Jail.
The University of Cincinnati was faced with a similar deadline as Ohio State, but has decided to allow Spencer to speak there. On Thursday, a federal lawsuit was filed against Penn State University for denying a request to rent space for Spencer to speak, saying the university supports free speech but has concerns over “disruption and violence” that could result.