White nationalist Richard Spencer slated to speak at Texas A&M University

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A white nationalist whose recent speech in the nation’s capital drew Nazi salutes will speak at Texas A&M University next month.

Richard Spencer, who spoke for a half-hour at a white nationalist organization’s meeting on Saturday, will speak at Texas A&M's Memorial Student Center on December 6 at 7 p.m.

Spencer is the president and director of The National Policy Institute, which describes itself as an "independent organization dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world."

At Saturday's event, he shouted “Heil Trump, Heil our people, Heil victory,” to audience applause.

More than 3,000 people had signed an online petition urging A&M to denounce Spencer and cancel the event on campus. University student leaders, in a statement circulated Wednesday afternoon, stopped short of asking A&M to cancel but called Spencer's stated anti-Semitic and white supremacist positions "wholly unacceptable" with "no place in civil discourse."

Students started to plan campus protests for the day of Spencer's speech, and alumni urged one another to call the university president's office to express their anger.

Lia Epps, a graduate student at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service, said there's "unrest and uneasiness" among her peers today.

The university issued a statement Wednesday denouncing Spencer's rhetoric and sought to distance itself from the event. The university had no immediate comment on whether it would try to cancel the speech.

"To be clear, Texas A&M University – including faculty, staff, students and/or student groups - did not invite this speaker to our campus nor do we endorse his rhetoric in any way," Amy Smith, a university spokeswoman, said in the statement.

Private citizens can reserve space on campus for private functions, Smith said. The event organizer will pay all rental expenses, including security costs, she said.

"The majority of people understand that A&M didn't invite Richard Spencer to come and speak," Epps said. "But it's still appalling that he's going to be there."

Former A&M student Preston Wiginton, also a white nationalist who was enrolled at the university in 2006 and 2007, told the Houston Chronicle he arranged for Spencer to speak on campus as a private citizen and political activist.

"The left at these universities has stifled out anything pertaining to white interests," Wiginton said.

Spencer will speak in a room in the student center that will accommodate "adequate police security," Wiginton said.

The building was initially dedicated to honor Texas A&M alumni who died in action during World War I and World War II.

Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, who leads the campus Hillel, urged community members to report Spencer's planned visit to the university’s “Stop Hate” website, through which individuals can bring forward instances of discrimination.

Rosenberg said he spoke to the Anti-Defamation League on Wednesday morning and said he was "pleased" to see alumni, faculty and student responses online.

"I think for the vast majority of students, even though it's a conservative student body, they're definitely against people like (Spencer)," Rosenberg said. "Seeing those responses was really heartening."