Penn State University Police and Public Safety and Vice President for Student Affairs Damon Sims issued separate statements Thursday evening in response a mass email sent by an unrecognized group regarding a controversial event occurring on campus on Monday.
The mass email from the Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity called on students and community members to join in a protest opposing recognized student organization Uncensored America’s hosting an on-campus event featuring Gavin McInnes, the founder of the Proud Boys, an organization labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.
The email also discouraged participation in the university’s “Together We Are” counter-event, calling it a “cover-up event.”
University Police and Public Safety said in a statement that the email provided “inaccurate, false and potentially harmful information” and urged students and members of the community to avoid the event.
“University Police and Public Safety strongly recommends that community members avoid the event, as non-engagement in these types of situations where the speakers attempt to create outrage is a proven method for tamping down the confrontations, as well as the attention these individuals crave,” the statement read.
“Many of the provocateurs who gain a platform for their denigrating rhetoric have their causes amplified by angry protests from those in our community who deplore their behavior and speech. These angry clashes only serve to advance the goals of these individuals and the vile ideas they represent. Provocateurs love nothing more than to fill a room with protesters and record it as content for their online platforms. As a community, we should not advance their purposes.”
Police will be on-site at the event as a safety precaution and in case of a disruption, according to the statement.
“In addition, University Police plan for, and are prepared to take, every reasonable action to protect the safety of our campus,” the department’s statement said. “University Police are engaged with external law enforcement partners in their planning for this event and, for security reasons, we cannot provide specific details on aspects of that safety plan.”
Vice President of Student Affairs Damon Sims issued a separate statement later Thursday night, urging students not to attend the event.
“Many of you received a mass email earlier today encouraging direct confrontation with two controversial speakers who have been invited to campus on Monday by a recognized student organization and discouraging your participation in a community-building event at the same time in the HUB,” Sims wrote. “I implore you not to take the bait.”
Sims’ wrote that the university condemns the speakers of the Uncensored America event, but cannot stop it, as public universities are obligated under the First Amendment to allow speakers when invited by faculty or recognized organizations, even if offensive to others.
“But neither can we sit idly by while provocateurs opposed to these speakers encourage you to act in ways that may increase risk to yourselves and our community,” Sims wrote. “The Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity, which claims credit for today’s email, is irresponsibly inviting confrontation. I strongly encourage you not to follow their lead.”
Sims encouraged students to attend the Student Programming Association’s “Together We Are” community event at 6 p.m. on Monday in the HUB.
“Those who are experts in hate groups tell us time and time again that engaging them is the wrong response. Doing so merely amplifies their hate. It feeds their angry purpose,” Sims wrote.
The full statement from Sims is below.
Dear Students—
Many of you received a mass email earlier today encouraging direct confrontation with two controversial speakers who have been invited to campus on Monday by a recognized student organization and discouraging your participation in a community-building event at the same time in the HUB. I implore you not to take the bait.
The student organization Uncensored America is hosting a presentation on Monday by two individuals, one of whom is the founder of the Proud Boys. The University does not endorse this event and strongly and unquestionably rejects the hateful rhetoric for which these speakers have been responsible.
But the fundamental freedom of thought and expression protected by the First Amendment obligates a public university to allow even speakers with whom it most strongly disagrees, when those speakers are invited by the faculty or a recognized student organization. We cannot stop Monday’s planned event simply because we, many of you, and others find these speakers deeply offensive.
But neither can we sit idly while provocateurs opposed to these speakers encourage you to act in ways that may increase risk to yourselves and our community. The Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity, which claims credit for today’s email, is irresponsibly inviting confrontation. I strongly encourage you not to follow their lead.
Instead, attend the Student Programming Association’s Together We Are event in the HUB on Monday evening. That event will be an expression of true solidarity and an ideal way for all of us to defend ourselves and our community against the divisiveness that otherwise threatens to overwhelm our better natures.
Those who are expert in hate groups tell us time and again that engaging them is the wrong response. Doing so merely amplifies their hate. It feeds their angry purpose.
Instead, come together as one community, in celebration of what bonds us—care and consideration for one another and the collective strength to resist the easy and pointless temptation to strike back.
Sincerely,
Damon Sims
Vice President for Student Affairs
