White nationalist Richard Spencer’s plan to speak at the University of Cincinnati has been scuttled by a legal standoff over the Ohio school's demand for a security fee of nearly $11,000.
Attorney Kyle Bristow told The Associated Press on Monday that Spencer's tour organizer is now hoping that the appearance can be rescheduled for summer or fall. A message was left Monday for a UC spokesperson.
Spencer is president of the National Policy Institute, a white supremacist think-tank, and is co-editor of AltRight.com.
Bristow had said Spencer would speak at the university on March 14, during the school's spring break, but no contract was agreed upon after the school insisted on an almost $11,000 security fee. Tour organizer Cameron Bristow said the fee was discriminatory and unconstitutional and filed a federal lawsuit, which the school asked a judge to dismiss.
Bristow has sued several other schools, including The Ohio State University, for not allowing Spencer to speak. Ohio State denied Spencer’s request in September, citing concerns for public safety.
The institute's request, as provided by Ohio State, expected a few hundred attendees for the public event.
"Richard Spencer will give a speech, and answer questions from the audience," the request said. "He is open to debating a professor, if someone would like to accept the challenge. Due to the nature of the event, we will need a lot of security. Similar events have drawn dozens of anarchist 'antifa' protesters."
In responding to Bristow's lawsuit, the University of Cincinnati said that the security fee represented a fraction of the anticipated costs of Spencer's visit
Spencer announced his university speaking tour a day after the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, where one counter-protester was killed. Ohio State is one of at least six other universities that have declined Spencer’s speaking events. Several have already settled and permitted Spencer to speak.
