White nationalist Richard Spencer’s Ohio lawsuit ends

CINCINNATI » A federal lawsuit over white nationalist Richard Spencer’s effort to speak at the University of Cincinnati ended Wednesday.

A court filing shows Spencer’s campus tour organizer dropped its suit against the university. Attorney Mark Landes, who represents the school, said there was no settlement agreement with Spencer’s side.

“They’re not getting anything,” Landes said.

The attorney for Spencer’s tour organizer didn’t respond immediately to requests for comment.

The school last fall agreed to let Spencer speak, and a March date was set. The university demanded a security fee of nearly $11,000, prompting Spencer’s tour organizers to sue in January. The speaking date came and went with the dispute unresolved.

Spencer’s attorney has called the fee discriminatory and unconstitutional. The school said the amount was a “mere fraction” of its expected security costs.

Spencer calls his views “alt-right.” He advocates a white “ethno-state” and espouses anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant beliefs. UC’s board of trustees publicly condemned hate last October while citing the fundamental right to free speech at a public university.

The school’s president, Neville Pinto, repeatedly referred to Spencer on Wednesday as an uninvited speaker. There are “no plans for Spencer to speak at UC,” he said.