Free Speech/Intimate Threat: When the Proud Boys Come to Campus

Keywords: gender, violence, care, risk
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

On Oct 24th, members of "Proud Boys," a white nationalist organization, harassed and assaulted Penn State, student demonstrators. The students were protesting the arrival of Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, and Alex Stein, another far-right actor, who were invited speakers by the student group "Uncensored America." These violent actors sprayed an irritant (bear spray) onto the students, and yet the only arrest for the evening was a Penn State student for failure to disperse and disorderly conduct. Despite earlier objections to the talk by the local community, students, and faculty, stating that the risk for violence was too high, university administrators stated that public universities are obligated under the First Amendment to protect various expressive rights. This paper analyzes the events of Oct 24th by disrupting the binary of free and hate speech which allows for the counter-intuitive claim that the hateful speech of some must be defended to protect the free speech of all. Protecting free speech for cis white violent men does little to protect women and minorities and, in fact, sacrifices and silences them. This paper analyzes the events on the Penn State campus through the scalar lens of gender-based violence. Assessing violent “risk” in this manner emphasizes place and empowers community-based solutions, including risk to the individual, relationships, the community, and society.