Richard Spencer Personally Paying For Security, Venue For Auburn Speech

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By Aiden Pink April 14, 2017

“Alt-right” leader Richard Spencer, scheduled to speak at Auburn University in Alabama next week, is paying for a venue and security out of his own pocket, The Tuscaloosa News reported Thursday.

The university administration said in a statement on Wednesday that while they “strongly deplore his views,” Auburn also “supports the constitutional right to free speech.”

Spencer is paying $700 to hire security and rent out Auburn’s James E. Foy Hall on Tuesday. The white nationalist leader said in a video last week that he plans to talk about President Donald Trump, Syria, and the “alt-right.”

“If this event is anything like my other ones, it is going to be wild,” he promised. Spencer was subjected to boisterous protests when he spoke at Texas A&M University in December.

Spencer’s think tank, the National Policy Institute, had its tax-exempt status revoked last month by the Internal Revenue Service for failure to file tax returns with the federal government. It was also reported last month that Spencer, who supports the creation of an all-white “ethno-state,” draws part of his income from cotton plantations in Louisiana.

He coined the term “alt-right,” an amorphous movement of white supremacists, white nationalists and fellow travelers that operates mainly online.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected].

Aiden Pink is the Deputy News Editor for the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink.

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