DETROIT _ White supremacist Richard Spencer will speak for two hours on Michigan State University's campus on March 5, the university and Spencer's lawyers have agreed. That is the first day of MSU's spring break.
The agreement came in a settlement of a lawsuit filed by attorney Kyle Bristow against MSU after it denied Spencer's representatives space to speak on campus.
"This is a resounding First Amendment victory for the alt-right," Bristow told the Detroit Free Press. "Left-wing censorship of right-wing ideas in academia is unacceptable.
"Richard Spencer gets to speak and MSU gets to pay.
"The fundamental right of Americans to think and speak freely is nonnegotiable."
According to the terms of the agreement:
_ Spencer will speak from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. March 5 in the auditorium in the Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education.
_ Spencer will pay the university $1,650 for the rental.
_ MSU will provide police and security for the event. Spencer's group won't pay anything toward it.
_ MSU will set up a ticketing process for the event and control entry to the event.
_ Spencer's group will provide insurance for the event.
_ Spencer's group will not hold any other gathering or event at MSU.
Spencer's group has a similar request pending at the University of Michigan, where President Mark Schlissel has said the university would negotiate with the group for a safe way to allow them on campus.
"After consulting widely with many members of our community, I made the difficult decision to begin discussions with Richard Spencer's group to determine whether he will be allowed to rent space to speak on the University of Michigan campus. If we cannot assure a reasonably safe setting for the event, we will not allow it to go forward," Schlissel said then. "Let me be clear. U-M has not invited this individual to our campus, nor is anyone in our community sponsoring him. His representatives made a request to rent space on our campus for him to speak. We are legally prohibited from blocking such requests based solely on the content of that speech, however sickening it is.
A U-M spokeswoman told the Free Press earlier this week there was no update to those talks.
When MSU received the request it initially set aside a room at the Union and was going to charge the group $2,000.
Sixteen days later, Spencer's request was made public and the response from MSU's community was swift and overwhelming: Don't let Spencer on campus.
MSU ultimately denied Spencer's National Policy Institute space to speak on campus, citing safety concerns. Spencer's group then sued MSU in federal court.
A federal judge ordered the two sides into mediation.
Court filings made Thursday show the two sides agreed to the settlement and agreed to dismiss the lawsuit.
