Penn State leaders criticize event featuring Proud Boys founder — but say they cannot stop it
Several Penn State leaders have publicly criticized an upcoming on-campus event that features two controversial far-right speakers — including the founder of the Proud Boys — but they say the university cannot cancel the presentation due to free speech rights.
In a written statement Tuesday, three university officials denounced “the vitriolic and hateful language” of the speakers while adding that the recognized student organization hosting the pair still has the “undeniable constitutional right” to do so on campus. The situation is virtually identical to last November’s on-campus “Pray the Gay Away” event featuring alt-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, which saw counter-protesters outnumber attendees by more than a 7-to-1 margin.
“Once again, we find ourselves in the unenviable position of sharing space with individuals whose views differ dramatically from our university’s values of inclusion, diversity, equity and respect,” the officials wrote. “The justified concerns around the upcoming visit of these controversial figures make it necessary for us to reaffirm our collective commitment to our stated values and to explain why Penn State would allow speakers whose history indicates they ascribe to discriminatory views to visit our campus and community.”
The full university statement was signed by Frank Guadagnino, interim vice president and general counsel; Damon Sims, vice president of Student Affairs; and Marcus Whitehurst, vice provost of Educational Equity. The trio explained that, as a public university with independent student organizations, it is obligated under the First Amendment to allow such recognized groups to host such events.
Four First Amendment experts told the CDT last year that the university was correct in its assertion. Among them was former Penn State professor Clay Calvert, now the University of Florida’s Director of the Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project.
“For people who did not like President Trump, just imagine if Trump had the power to say, ‘OK, well, that’s valuable speech. We’ll allow it. That’s not valuable speech, so we won’t,’” Calvert said last year, in reference to the Yiannopoulos event. “That’s the reason we protect speech like this, not because it has great value but because we don’t want a government entity — in this case Penn State — to make a judgment call and tell us what speech is valuable and what is not.”
Who’s speaking?
Earlier this month, student group Uncensored America — the same nonprofit that hosted Yiannopoulos — announced a “comedy show” with two controversial figures at 8 p.m. Oct. 24 in Penn State’s Thomas Building. The presentation is titled, “Stand Back & Stand By,” a nod to Trump’s reaction when asked to condemn white supremacist groups during a presidential debate.
One speaker includes self-proclaimed professional troll Alex Stein, whose podcast was banned from YouTube for violating hate speech guidelines. He once hosted a Holocaust denier and has described his video-streaming platform as “anti-gay, anti-woman, anti-Black, antisemitic.” The other speaker is Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, which is designated as a general hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. McInnes was banned from most social media — Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube — for promoting violent extremist groups and/or hate speech.
The Proud Boys have been accused of multiple cases of violence involving counter-protesters and others. They were present at alt-right events like the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and also played a role in the 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“As a public university, we are unalterably obligated under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to protect various expressive rights, even for those whose viewpoints offend our basic institutional values and our personal sensibilities,” Penn State’s leaders wrote. “While the past statements and actions of these speakers are alarming and can elicit strong reactions from our community, we must continue to uphold the right to free speech — even speech we find abhorrent — because Penn State fully supports the fundamental right of free speech.
“To do otherwise not only violates the Constitution but would erode the basic freedom each of us shares to think and express ourselves as we wish.”
What can you do?
Both Penn State officials and First Amendment experts pointed to two main options — ignoring the speakers, who mainly seek to provoke and cause division, and/or organizing counter-speech to oppose their message.
Like last year’s “Love is Louder” counter-event, the university will once again hold counter-events that overlap with the timing of Uncensored America’s event. “Together We Are” will be held 6-10 p.m. Oct. 24 in the Alumni and Heritage halls at the HUB-Robeson Center. It will feature a number of activities and performances that promote belonging and community. A free public lecture, “Fighting Truth Decay: How and Why Fakers Fake” will be held from 6-7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the HUB’s Freeman Auditorium, by Al Thompkins, senior faculty at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit Florida-based media institute and newsroom.
Penn State will also host a talk 6 p.m. Oct. 18 at Freeman Auditorium to highlight the tactics used by provocateurs like the upcoming speakers. It is titled, “Doing It for the Content: Understanding Political Violence and Far Right Organizing from Fashion to Fascism.”
More than 800 people have also signed onto an online petition that demands Penn State cancel the event, disagreeing with the university’s and experts’ explanations that it cannot do so.
“The best response to hateful speech is inclusive speech and the creation of spaces devoted to reflection, healing, and the celebration of those qualities we value,” the Penn State officials wrote. “We encourage all within the university community to join these alternative events and demonstrate our unity around the principles of diversity, equity and inclusion.
“If you oppose the past expressions of these two speakers as we do, make that opposition known by uniting in the most effective way possible — by ignoring them and joining with others to unify and strengthen our university community.”
