A university student has filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University after it denied a request to rent campus space to white nationalist Richard Spencer.
Georgia State University student Cameron Padgett, 23, tried to rent a room to give hateful speaker Spencer a platform to spread his controversial views.
When Michigan State denied the use of the space for the much derided white nationalist, Mr Padgett sued, alleging the university violated free speech.
Georgia State University student Cameron Padgett, 23, filed a lawsuit against Michigan State University after it denied a request to rent campus space to white nationalist Richard Spencer (pictured)
The East Lansing school has said in a statement the decision was made ‘due to significant concerns about public safety’ and cited the ‘tragic violence’ in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The MSU lawsuit, filed Sunday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, sought damages and a preliminary injunction to prevent the school from deny Spencer a platform.
Padgett has won legal battles to allow Spencer to speak at universities before.
In a previous lawsuit he won the fight to allow Spencer to speak at Auburn University in Alabama.
He also won $29,000 damages in the case.
Padgett also convinced the University of Florida to change its mind and allow Spencer a platform to speak there – an event which hasn’t yet taken place.
In the MSU lawsuit, Padgett specifies white nationalist Spencer (pictured) not pay for police protection or insurance for the event – plus attorney fees of more than $75,000
In the MSU lawsuit, Padgett specifies white nationalist Spencer not pay for police protection or insurance for the event – plus attorney fees of more than $75,000.
Spencer said in a text message to the AP on Sunday that, ‘Cameron Padgett is a brave young man who has my full support.’
Spencer was scheduled to speak at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville that ended in violence.
A woman was killed after a car drove into counter-protesters.
When Michigan State denied the use of the space for the much derided white nationalist, Mr Padgett sued, alleging the university violated free speech
James Alex Fields Jr, of Maumee, Ohio, was charged with second-degree murder for the attack.
Video of the Dodge Challenger, which is registered to Fields, showed the driver accelerating into the crowd throwing bodies into the air as people scream before reversing at high speed.
The incident killed a 32-year-old woman, whose identity has not been released by authorities pending her family’s notification.
Fields was apprehended and arrested a few blocks away from the bloody scene.
James Alex Fields Jr, of Maumee, Ohio, was charged with second-degree murder for the attack