Can Penn State cancel event featuring Proud Boys founder? ACLU PA, experts weigh in
BY JOSH MOYER
OCTOBER 23, 2022
Penn State has fielded criticism from around the country for hosting an event involving the Proud Boys founder, with multitudes questioning the university’s assertion that it
cannot cancel Monday’s presentation without violating the U.S. Constitution. ... But the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania — and more than a half-dozen other First Amendment experts — say Penn State is almost certainly correct.
Because the university is largely public, and because a recognized student organization invited the speakers as all such organizations are permitted to do, it cannot make exceptions to its own rules because it finds the speakers’ rhetoric “hateful and discriminatory.” Penn State said as much last week, but that hasn’t stopped a
3,000-signature petition, online comments that have referred to PSU as “
a terrorist organization” and overwhelming anger from many students and community members.
No expert or organization the CDT contacted agreed with the views of the Proud Boys. But, just as
an accused white supremacist spoke on the campus of Indiana University, and
“radical conservative” Ben Shapiro held an event at the University of Michigan, both Penn State and outside experts say the land-grant university is constitutionally obligated to follow suit.
“Penn State is a public university, so it is subject to the First Amendment,” ACLU PA Legal Director Vic Walczak said in a written statement. “Once (a recognized student organization from) the university has invited a speaker, cancellation because of disagreement with the speaker’s vewpoint or message raises First Amendment concerns, and could invite litigation and trigger liability.”
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