GRAND RAPIDS - Michigan State University was sued Sunday in federal court over its decision last month to deny a white nationalist group's request to speak on campus.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Kyle Bristow on behalf of Cameron Padgett and says the university violated the First and Fourteenth amendments.

In the lawsuit, Bristow says his client — a Georgia State University student — attempted to rent a conference room at MSU's Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center so Richard Spencer, a prominent white nationalist and president and director of the The National Policy Institute, could speak about his "Alt-Right philosophy."

MSU denied the request. In a statement explaining the decision, MSU President Lou Anna Simon said it "was made due to significant concerns about public safety in the wake of the tragic violence in Charlottesville."

She added that while she and the university "remain firm in our commitment to freedom of expression, our first obligation is to the safety and security of our students and our community."

Kent Cassella, an MSU spokesman, said in a statement on Monday that the university is aware of the lawsuit. He added the university made its decision last month "after consultation with law enforcement officials."

According to the lawsuit, MSU's decision "constitutes unconstitutional content discrimination." Bristow added that the university's "decision to prohibit Spencer from speaking about Spencer’s Alt-Right philosophy due to (MSU) finding Alt-Right philosophy to be objectionable constitutes unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination."

Robert Sedler, a constitutional law professor at Wayne State University, told the State Journal last month that courts have established that the overriding principal for public universities when it comes to speech on campus is neutrality toward the content. He added that courts have found that the potential for violence is not justification for denying free speech.

Bristow's Clinton Township law firm — Bristow Law PLLC — focuses on criminal and juvenile defense, family law, civil litigation, criminal record expungement and appeals, according to its website, which says he's licensed to practice law in Michigan and Ohio.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an organization that combats bigotry, has a page for Bristow in the "Extremist Files" section of its website. In 2015, the State Bar of Michigan issued an apology and withdrew an honorable mention award for a short story Bristow entered in a contest. The Bar said it found the story to be "embedded with racist cues and symbolism." The contest was discontinued after the incident.

The NPI describes itself as "dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent." The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed NPI as a white nationalist group. Such groups advocate for political, legal and territorial guarantees for whites.

In the lawsuit, Bristow writes that Padgett subscribes to "identitarian philosophy," which he described as "Eurocentric political ideology which advocates the preservation of national identity and a return to traditional Western values." He added the while Padgett doesn't consider him alt-right, his client support's Spencer's alt-right philosophy.

The term "alt-right" refers to a loosely defined group whose far-right ideology includes racism, populism and white nationalism.

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Earlier this year, Padgett sued Auburn University after it denied his request to rent a conference room for Spencer to speak. Bristow assisted in Padgett's representation in that lawsuit, according to a news release.

Last month, Heather Heyer, 32, of Charlottesville, Virginia, was killed after she was struck by a vehicle that was driven into a group of counterprotesters, following the Unite the Right rally that brought together neo-Nazis, Klu Klux Klan sympathizers and other white nationalist groups to protest the potential removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. Two Virginia state police officers — Lt. Jay Cullen, 48, and Trooper-Pilot Berke Bates, 40 — were killed in a helicopter crash while supervising the rally.

Following the events in Charlottesville, several universities, including MSU, denied requests by white nationalist groups seeking to speak on their campuses. They cited safety concerns.

MSU has had controversial speakers before. In December of last year, Milo Yiannopoulos came to MSU as part of his "Dangerous Faggot" tour. Yiannopoulos, a former Brietbart News editor, is an avowed anti-feminist and critic of "P.C. culture" on college campuses. Several people were arrested for protesting his appearance, which was initiated by a campus group called Young Americans for Liberty.

Contact Matt Mencarini at (517) 267-1347 or mmencarini@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @MattMencarini.