The head of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights is speaking out about a request by a white nationalist to speak at Michigan State University.
Agustin V. Arbulu, Director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, released the following statement:
“Richard Spencer has the same legal right to assemble and to speak that we all enjoy, and we will defend that right. But we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, his message of hate. If his words threaten or incite violence against any individual or group, then he will have crossed an important legal line. An attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. We will be watching.”
Michigan State University says it hasn't decided whether to rent space to a group headed by white nationalist Richard Spencer. The university says it's reviewing a request by the National Policy Institute closely "in light of the deplorable violence" in Charlottesville, Virginia, last weekend. But the school also says it doesn't make decisions on access to public space based on what someone thinks or says.
In a statement Wednesday, Michigan State says granting access doesn't mean it endorses the "messages that might be delivered there." The university says diversity is a source of strength at the East Lansing, Michigan, campus.
Meanwhile, the University of Florida is denying a request by the group to rent space on campus for a September event.
