How U. of Florida’s Students and Faculty Are Preparing for Richard Spencer

When Richard B. Spencer, a prominent white supremacist, visits the University of Florida on Thursday afternoon to deliver a speech, he’ll be going to a campus that’s been anxiously preparing for his arrival.

One law-school professor will hold a teach-in during Mr. Spencer’s talk. Protesters with the group No Nazis at UF will march across the campus to the event at the same time. Security will blanket the venue.

Though the protests and precautions will be varied, one thing will be common: The campus, in Gainesville, Fla., will be riddled with anxiety.

Some students and faculty members do not plan to go to class out of concern for their safety. On Monday, Gov. Rick Scott of Florida, a Republican, declared a state of emergency to allow the sheriff of Alachua County, where the university is located, to more easily coordinate with state and municipal law-enforcement agencies.

The state of emergency is one of many steps that authorities are taking to prepare for Mr. Spencer. The university will also close major roads, alter bus routes, and give instructors the freedom to cancel classes, if needed.

The university initially denied Mr. Spencer the event space he requested, citing security reasons in light of the violence that erupted during a white-supremacist rally in August in Charlottesville, Va., where Mr. Spencer was one of the event organizers. That rally, which involved neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen, and members of other racist, sexist, and anti-Semitic groups, resulted in the death of one counterprotester and injuries to others.

A lawyer threatened to sue the university on First Amendment grounds, so the public institution allowed the National Policy Institute, a think tank led by Mr. Spencer, to rent the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for his talk. Now the university will pay at least $500,000 for security.

A Range of Reactions

Many faculty members have been leery of Mr. Spencer’s appearance on the campus. The university’s faculty union asked W. Kent Fuchs, Florida’s president, to cancel the speech based on the faculty’s labor agreement, which states that administrators should protect faculty members from attacks on academic freedom, and should ensure their safety.

“Federal labor law is unambiguous: It is the responsibility of employers to maintain a safe working environment for employees at all times. There are no exceptions,” several union leaders wrote this month in an op-ed in The Gainesville Sun.

Mr. Fuchs told the Associated Press on Wednesday that Mr. Spencer was “hijacking” public universities where he has sought to speak, and has forced taxpayers to pick up the heavy security costs.

Unlike other faculty members, Michelle S. Jacobs, a law professor, plans to be on the campus for the event. During Mr. Spencer’s speech, she will hold a teach-in for students, faculty, and staff.

Although she doesn’t support what Mr. Spencer will say, she believes he should be able to speak. By sponsoring an alternative academic discussion, Ms. Jacobs said, she is exposing students to resistance techniques that do not involve violence, and discussing and contextualizing his controversial views.

“I want them to know that there is a way to talk about things that are controversial in a way that’s not physically threatening,” Ms. Jacobs said.

It would be a mistake to ignore the event or to not let Mr. Spencer speak, she said. Students and faculty members should be on the campus to discuss his talk and other free-speech issues. “When there are controversial things going on in your community that are hurtful for some people,” Ms. Jacobs said, “I think everyone should feel a level of discomfort.”

Timothy Tia, a senior economics major and a member of No Nazis at UF, said students had spent 10 hours planning the march to the Phillips Center in the hope that the demonstration would be peaceful.

About 2,900 people have said they will march, according to an events page on Facebook, but the online nature of the responses doesn’t guarantee that they will actually show up, Mr. Tia said.

He has also spoken with activists who plan to go to Gainesville for the event, and who also said the protest should be as peaceful as possible. Outside organizers, who are not affiliated with the university, conducted de-escalation training to show students activists how to keep the peace during the march, he said.

Ultimately, Mr. Tia and his colleagues are trying to spread messages of nonviolent protests. “There’s a way to set a tone to a protest that hopefully spreads to other people,” he said.

Fears About Safety

Other students and student leaders may not be on the campus on Thursday for safety reasons.

Akil Reynolds, a junior majoring in public health and vice president of the Black Student Union, said his group and other student organizations had planned and promoted a virtual assembly, called #TogetherUF, for Thursday afternoon.

The virtual counterevent will feature videos and performances, and it aims to start a dialogue among students, faculty, and staff about race, diversity, and other topics. It will give students who oppose Mr. Spencer’s event, but who don’t want to protest, an opportunity to register their disapproval.

Mr. Reynolds said he was still not sure whether he would take part in a protest or steer clear. Anyone who attends the protests can be easily put in danger, he said. But for him, as a black man, the stakes are higher.

The Black Student Union began planning for Mr. Spencer’s appearance two weeks into the semester, Mr. Reynolds said. The event has taken up meeting time and consumed discussions among friends. “It’s really frustrating,” he said, “because there is so much mental capacity that is being taken up for this man.”

For many students, he said, the anxiety leading up to Mr. Spencer’s speech will fade after Thursday. But for other students, particularly members of minority groups, the fear will remain. That’s why Mr. Reynolds wants his peers to understand that some students can’t turn their fear on and off.

Mr. Spencer’s appearance has led him to feel that some classmates might quietly agree with the white supremacist. “This is someone,” Mr. Reynolds said, “who is more vocal about their views.”

Fernanda Zamudio-Suaréz is a breaking-news reporter. Follow her on Twitter @FernandaZamudio, or email her at fzamudiosuarez@chronicle.com.