Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Richard Spencer Visits Prompts Texas A&M To Change Speech Policies

Following white nationalist Richard Spencer’s address on campus last November, officials at Texas A&M are changing their campus’ speech policies so that, in the future, outside speakers will need the sponsorship of a student organization in order to reserve university space for an event.

“As one of the stewards for protecting and enhancing the brand, this is particularly troubling to me as the influx of these outside groups may connote to your viewers an environment of acceptance by our campus when none are actually our students or faculty,” Amy Smith, communications officer at Texas A&M, told CNN, explaining the new policy.

Spencer, who calls for the founding of a white “ethno-state,” headlined a heavily-picketed event on campus, after an invitation from a former student at the university, who himself had attracted notoriety for his white nationalist views and rented space for the occasion.

Administrators said it was impossible to cancel the event because as a public institution the university could not vet the speech of those who used its facilities. “Private citizens are permitted to reserve space available to the public,” Smith said at the time, adding that the event’s organizers would cover all its expenses.

Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.