Penn State cancels on-campus event after violence breaks out at protest against Proud Boys founder

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Protesters and counterprotesters clashed at Pennsylvania State University, leading to the cancellation of an event featuring Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes. The messy fallout illustrated an ongoing struggle of universities trying to balance Free Speech with on-campus safety. 

Key Players

Uncensored America (UA), a conservative nonprofit, hosts “honest and fun conversations with controversial figures to fight censorship and cancel culture.” 

The Proud Boys, an American, all-male, white nationalist organization, has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights nonprofit. In 2017, its members attended the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where a neo-Nazi drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring dozens. In June 2022, five members, including former chair Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, were charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building; one member pleaded guilty, The Associated Press reported.

Gavin McInnes, a Canadian far-right political commentator, founded the Proud Boys in 2016, introducing them as “Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world.” 

Alex Stein, a far-right comedian, made headlines in July 2022 after posting a video of him sexually harassing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), saying she “wants to kill babies but she’s still beautiful,” and “Look at that booty on AOC,” among other misogynistic remarks. 

Neeli Bendapudi was appointed as Penn State’s 19th president in 2022.  

Further Details

In the past, the Penn State chapter of UA has hosted controversial figures, including alt-right British commentator Milo Yiannopoulous for a “Pray the Gay Away” speech, and a “Ukraine Is Evil” debate that featured conservative commentator Elijah Schaffer, who was ultimately fired from The Blaze because of an allegation that he had assaulted a female employee. 

On Oct. 4, 2022, UA announced an Oct. 24 event titled “Stand Back and Stand By,” referencing a comment made by former president Donald Trump at the first 2020 presidential debate. When asked if he would condemn white supremacist and militia groups, Trump said, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.” 

“Join us for a politically provocative comedy night with professional troll Alex Stein and the godfather of hipsters Gavin McInnes,” the event’s announcement read. 

The announcement, along with disclosure that the event would cost nearly $7,530 in student activities fees, led to pushback from the Penn State community. The Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity (SCDS), a student social justice group, called on the university to cancel the event and change its policy to prevent hosting “fascist, white supremacist organizers” in the future.

“Denying McInnes permission to be paid and platformed at Penn State is not in any way a violation of ‘free speech’; this is not a speech issue, it is a safety issue on numerous levels. McInnes must be denied because McInnes poses the threat of neofascist violence to our community,” the petition read.

On Oct. 11, the administration stated that UA had “the undeniable constitutional right to sponsor” the event on campus. Penn State as a public university is “obligated under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment to protect various expressive rights, even for those whose viewpoints offend our basic institutional values and our personal sensibilities.”

Opponents organized a “Stand Up, Fight Back” protest to be held during the event, outside of its venue. 

Outcome

Violent clash leads to canceled event

On Oct. 24, after the protest “regrettably turned violent,” campus police canceled the event 45 minutes before it was scheduled to start. 

Bendapudi said violence broke out after Stein confronted protesters, which “raised the tension” of a peaceful protest. She said it was unclear who had “resorted to physical confrontation” and used “pepper spray against others in the crowd, including against police officers,” adding there were no serious injuries.  

Video footage from the Daily Collegian, Penn State’s independent student newspaper, showed McInnes and Stein being escorted by police. Stein had also tweeted a video of a protester spitting on his jacket. 

Protesters say McInnes and Stein supporters incited violence 

Daryle Lamont Jenkins, leader and founder of hate-tracking nonprofit One People’s Project, told The Washington Post that no aggression came from the protesters. Reportedly, supporters of McInnes and Stein had pepper sprayed the protesters, NPR said.

Freelance photojournalist Zach Roberts tweeted that he and other members of the media were hit with pepper spray “by a Proud Boy.” Roberts also tweeted that police on horses “charged” protesters without warning, nearly trampling him and other members of the media. 

Vice reporter Tess Owen tweeted video footage of riot police and crowd-control horses. 

McInnes and Stein decry censorship

Minutes after the event was canceled, Stein tweeted, “Penn State Shut Down My Speech on Campus Today!!! Free Speech Doesn’t Exist for Conservatives!!!” 

McInnes told The Post that he and Stein had been “clearly censored.”

“The [venue] room was tiny. Fifty people probably could fit. Fifty people were denied jokes because of the media narrative about Proud Boys being racist, sexist, whatever the fuck they’re pushing,” he said.

UA also tweeted a statement regarding the cancellation. 

“Sadly, attendees were intimidated by violent protests and could not enter the venue safely. We do not live in a free speech culture if college students cannot attend a comedy show,” the statement reads. “Free speech is fundamental for any functioning democracy, and we will never stop peacefully fighting for it.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a Free Speech advocacy organization, asked for clarification on how the threat of violence had been significant enough to warrant cancellation of the event.

Penn State president condemns chaotic fallout 

Penn State decried the fallout and implications for Free Speech on campus. 

“Tonight, the message too many people will walk away with is that one can manipulate people to generate free publicity, or that one can restrict speech by escalating protest to violence. These are not ideas that we can endorse as an institution of higher education,” Bendapudi said. 

“We cannot laud academic freedom; and then abandon the constitutional right to free expression which undergirds academic freedom. Over the coming weeks, let us reflect on the role we must all play in encouraging vigorous debate and also upholding the values we hold dear,” she added.

The administration stated it had “encouraged peaceful protest, and, while protest is an acceptable means of expression, it becomes unacceptable when it obstructs the basic exchange of ideas. Such obstruction is a form of censorship, no matter who initiates it or for what reasons.”

Students criticize university response

Many students were displeased with how Penn State handled the situation. The SCDS were quick to condemn the university on Instagram. 

“YOU WON!” the group wrote. “Despite the extreme irresponsibility of the reprehensible Penn State Administrators, who should resign immediately, who willfully put students at risk knowing full well what they were doing. … Some brave people were pepper sprayed by hate group members enabled by PSU admin to terrorize our campus.”

On Oct. 25, an opinion piece from Onward State, Penn State’s student blog, said that the university’s “handling of the controversial event, from start to finish, was nothing short of an embarrassment,” adding that Bendapudi was “deflecting blame away from the university” and that “no accountability was taken” by Penn State.