Texas A&M University will hold an event next week that highlights unity on campus at the same time a white nationalist leader is scheduled to speak at the school.

Richard Spencer (via Facebook)

In a statement that does not mention Richard Spencer by name, Texas A&M president Michael K. Young announced an event called "Aggies United" at Kyle Field from 6 to 9 p.m. Dec. 6. Young said the event, which is open to students, faculty, staff and the public, will allow people to add their names to a wall "expressing their commitment to unity."

Spencer, 38, a leader of the so-called alt-right movement, was invited by a former Texas A&M student to speak at the school about his political beliefs.

The "alt-right" is a conservative movement that combines white nationalism, racism and populism. Though Spencer claims he is not a white supremacist, he supports a white ethno-state — a nation without people of color, Jews, Muslims or anyone else who does not share a common European heritage.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, calls Spencer "a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old, a kind of professional racist in khakis."

Spencer, a graduate of St. Mark's School of Texas, gained notoriety when he shouted "Hail Trump! Hail our people! Hail victory!" at a recent conference of his National Policy Institute. Several members of the crowd responded by raising their arms in a Nazi salute.

Amy Smith, a Texas A&M spokeswoman, has said that private citizens are allowed to reserve space for events at the public university. But she added that the school had nothing to do with inviting Spencer and that its "leadership finds his views as expressed to date in direct conflict with our core values."

Young echoed that in his statement, saying: "I find the views of the organizer — and the speaker he is apparently sponsoring — abhorrent and profoundly antithetical to everything I believe."

But Young said he was heartened by the opposition to those views on the College Station campus, calling it a "resounding affirmation that they do not represent the Aggie values we espouse and to which we aspire."

Donald Trump, whose presidential campaign energized white supremacist groups, was asked by The New York Times last week specifically about the incident at the NPI conference.

"I disavow and condemn," he said.