AUSTIN — Texas A&M University canceled a White Lives Matter gathering at its College Station campus planned for Sept. 11 due to “the risks of threat to life and safety,” the university said Monday after lawmakers denounced the planned event.

“After consultation with law enforcement and considerable study, Texas A&M is cancelling the event scheduled by Preston Wiginton at Rudder Plaza on campus on September 11 because of concerns about the safety of its students, faculty, staff, and the public,” said the statement.

House members had asked Texas A&M officials to fight the event, citing the terrible nature of the Charlottesville, Va. white supremacist riot over the weekend.

“I am standing to denounce hatred, bigotry and terrorism,” said Rep. Helen Giddings, D-DeSoto, as fellow House members stood with her at the front of the chamber. She said that the “eyes of the world” are now on Texas with the rally planned “on one of the most solemn days of our nation, Sept. 11.”

Senators also expressed their dismay about what happened in Charlottesville, saying racist, white supremacist views are not welcome in Texas.

“We are going to stand as one, one body, to say to those in this state who share these thoughts, to those who would come to this state — Not here, not now, not ever. We stand and condem this together, the state of Texas and the Texas Senate,” said Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate.

Both the House and Senate remembered the families of Heather Heyer, who was killed while protesting the Charlottesville rally, and of two Virginia troopers who died when their helicopter crashed, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke MM Bates.

Texas A&M also said that “the thoughts and prayers of Aggies here on campus and around the world are with those individuals affected by the tragedy in Charlottesville.”

In announcing the cancelation, the university said the notification of the event by Wiginton, a white nationalist organizer, was headlined, “Today Charlottesville, Tomorrow Texas A&M.”

“Linking the tragedy of Charlottesville with the Texas A&M event creates a major security risk on our campus. Additionally, the daylong event would provide disruption to our class schedules and to student, faculty and staff movement (both bus system and pedestrian),” said the statement.

The university said it had changed its policy after protests that occurred in December, and that it now allows no outside person or group to reserve campus facilities unless the event is sponsored by a university-sanctioned group. It said none of Texas A&M’s groups had agreed to sponsor Wiginton’s event.

Wiginton, who coordinated a December visit to campus by white nationalist Richard Spencer, had planned an outdoors event for Sept. 11 at Rudder Plaza, in the middle of campus.

“Texas A&M’s support of the First Amendment and the freedom of speech cannot be questioned,” said the university’s statement. “On December 6, 2016 the university and law enforcement allowed the same speaker the opportunity to share his views, taking all of the necessary precautions to ensure a peaceful event. However, in this case, circumstances and information relating to the event have changed and the risks of threat to life and safety compel us to cancel the event.”

pfikac@express-news.net