ANN ARBOR, MI - White nationalist Richard Spencer this week asked to speak at the University of Michigan, but the university has not decided if it will allow it.

Some UM students said Wednesday, Nov. 1 they are against Spencer's ideals, but differ on whether or not he should be allowed a space to speak on campus.

UM student and Michigan Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Austin McCoy, who has participated in protests on campus this fall aimed at highlighting social injustices, said Spencer's advocacy for a white "ethno-state" is not being sought peaceably in creating a "separate" white nation.

"I cannot determine whether or not Spencer can speak in public," McCoy said. "However, we should keep in mind white nationalists' and white supremacists' intent for organizing these events. They are about trying to organize and project power they don't have. These type of folks are in the minority. So, when you're small, you just try to get loud and cause controversy.

"Also, they're trying to use the First Amendment as a Trojan horse," he added. "At best, they're trying to troll, or 'trigger' people they oppose, and at worst, they're trying to use 'freedom of speech' to smuggle historically violent ideas into the public sphere."

UM's Black Student Union has called on President Mark Schlissel and UM's Board of Regents to deny Spencer's request to speak on campus. The BSU believes Spencer is a "threat to the physical and emotional safety of many students on campus."

"Richard Spencer is a violent white supremacist who advocates ethnic cleansing, and while he may deny promoting physical violence, his supporters engage in violence against marginalized people with the intent of protecting white supremacy," The BSU wrote in an online message.

For his part, Spencer says all are welcome to come see him speak when he appears on college campuses across the country, as long as they don't attempt to shut down his right to speak.

"I'm not going to tell anyone that they're not welcome," Spencer told WJR on Wednesday. "The whole point, as I discussed, of an academical village that is a university, is for people to come and engage with speakers, ideas and dangerous thoughts. That's the whole point. I would not keep anyone away."

Spencer's galvanizing of the "alt-right" movement and advocacy of an "ethno-state" that would banish minorities has drawn wide criticism for inciting violence, particularly in light of a rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. During the rally, protesters rallied against plans by the city to remove a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee.

Spencer spoke at the rally, which later turned violent, with clashes between the white nationalists and counter protesters. One woman died and 19 were injured when a man plowed his car into a group of counter protesters.

Since the Charlottesville rally, a number of universities across the country have denied requests by Spencer's National Policy Institute seeking a space to speak on campus including Ohio State University, Auburn University, the University of Florida and most recently, Michigan State University.

On Tuesday, the University of Michigan entered the conversation when Cameron Padgett, a representative from the NPI, sent the university an email request seeking to reserve a venue.

Maintaining the First Amendment

Spencer believes the type of person who doesn't agree with his line of thinking is "some kind of universalistic moral fanatic," who "engage in all of this moralizing about how good they are because they don't value their own children, effectively, over others."

"The problem really is with these kinds of silly white people who are basically ruining our future, ruining America and ruining the world because of this moral fanaticism they've been captured by, in which they don't want to stand for their own people, their own civilization and their own children," Spencer told WJR.

Grant Strobl, the national chairman of Young Americans for Freedom and a UM student, said the "ideas Spencer espouses are evil," condemning his racist ideology.

He does believe, though, that universities have created an environment where free speech rights are denied or in doubt, giving speakers like Spencer undeserved attention by canceling their events.

"(Universities) should take all steps necessary to correct that environment," Strobl said. "Then, extreme groups will no longer get the attention they are profiting from now."

Strobl said extremists like Spencer have existed in every era. What makes them stand out now, he said, is academia "treating adult students like snowflakes who should only hear Leftist speakers."

"The academic establishment benefits from making a scene over speakers like Richard Spencer because it is the closest they can come to justify their restricting student rights to hear and consider, and hopefully learn to reject, racial ideologies," Strobl said.

Striking a balance

At MSU, President Lou Anna Simon denied the request to provide a space for Spencer that was made in July, after consulting with MSU's police department, "which had concluded, in the light of the incidents in Charlottesville, it was highly likely there would be violence if Mr. Spencer were permitted to appear on campus on September 15," the university said in a court filing. "MSU's decision, therefore, was not content based."

MSU is now being sued in federal court by Padgett, a 23-year-old student at Georgia State University who organizes campus visits for Spencer.

In September, Schlissel said a balance must be struck when considering free speech on campus while assuring students, faculty, staff and the community remain safe.

He reiterated that stance on Wednesday, noting that a decision from UM on whether it would approve the NPI's request "as soon as we can figure whether we can have a safe event."

"The University of Michigan makes its facilities available regardless of the content to people who apply to use our space," he said. "We are commited, however, to the safety of people in our community. So we'll consider the request that came from Mr. Spencer's representative and accomodate it if we think we can do so while maintaining public safety."

McCoy said he feels the university should take into account that Spencer's events tend to attract white nationalists and white supremacists who are willing to commit acts of violence against anti-racist activists, noting that police in Florida arrested three men who allegedly made Nazi salutes, repeated Hitler chants and then shot at a group of protesters after Spencer's speech at the University of Florida.

Bringing him to campus, he said, would put a tremendous financial burden on UM from a public safety standpoint.

"Allowing Richard Spencer to invite himself to speak on campus would be a terrible waste of financial and human resources," McCoy said. "Why pay tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars for security when that money could go toward something more productive? I'd rather see that money go toward more scholarships or toward paying a living wage for part-time lecturers and staff."