A student’s invitation to a white supremacist to speak at Colorado Mesa University ignited weeks of pushback from the campus community, but the school’s president is defending the event even as he denounces the speaker’s views as “vile.”
John Marshall, the Grand Junction school’s president, said in an interview Wednesday that the university’s role is not to “platform” or “deplatform” a controversial speaker, but to “allow space for all opinions across the political and ideological spectrum.”
In this case, the opinions of Jared Taylor — scheduled to speak Thursday evening — fall under the pseudoscientific belief that white people are biologically superior to non-white people, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which classified the website Taylor founded, American Renaissance, as a “white nationalist hate group.”
Marshall said that as he considered the correct way to handle a speaker whose views he finds “abhorrent,” he asked himself, “What if the shoe was on the other foot?”
“What if it was a trans speaker or a pro-Israel speaker?” Marshall said. “Would you feel empowered to disinvite, censor or cancel them? The answer is no. To me, the whole issue at play here is how do you protect the ability of minority views to not get silenced, and I think the uncomfortable and hard truth is the only way to do that is to protect all of it. Frankly, that doesn’t feel very good in the moment and it’s somewhat counterintuitive.”
For decades, colleges across the nation, including in Colorado, have provided a platform for speakers with racist views in the name of free speech. Experts who research white nationalism say the current political climate — one in which universities are under federal investigation for supporting diverse students — calls for a different response than the old playbook.
“We are in unprecedented times where it’s not enough to say all speech is equal, because we’re in a situation in which some speech is going to be protected by this federal administration in ways that other speech is not,” said Jennifer Ho, an ethnic studies professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and the director for CU’s Center for Humanities and the Arts.
Max Applebaugh, president of a newly formed CMU student group called the Western Culture Club — which says it seeks to “foster and promote the values of Western culture through presentations, cookouts, community building and more” — invited Taylor to speak on the Grand Junction campus at 6 p.m. Thursday.
Applebaugh did not respond to a request for an interview.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel reported that Texas-based attorney Jason Lee Van Dyke donated $1,000 to help fund the event. Reached by phone Wednesday, Van Dyke said the Western Culture Club reached out to him for help because he’s well known for representing right-wing extremist group the Proud Boys and “groups that have been more credibly alleged to be racist,” such as the neo-Nazi group Aryan Freedom Network.
Taylor waived his speaking fee, but Van Dyke helped cover event logistics, he said.
“The reason I did it had nothing to do with the fact of whether I agree with Jared Taylor or not,” Van Dyke said. “I really don’t know him. What I did learn from my research is he’s one of the most censored people in America… That alone is what piqued my interest.”
Van Dyke, who was planning to attend the event, said he was “pleasantly surprised” by Marshall’s response and admires the university president’s respect for the First Amendment. He said he hopes the evening will become a discussion about the importance of free speech.
“I would shut it down”
Jessie Daniels, a professor at the City University of New York and internationally recognized expert in the rise of racism, said white supremacists have been targeting college campuses for years as an opportunity to advance their ideology.
“If I were the college president, I would not allow an avowed white supremacist to come onto my campus,” Daniels said. “I would shut it down, and then I would take the heat.”
Daniels acknowledged college presidents are now facing financial pressure from the Trump administration, which has threatened to take away funding over schools’ support of diversity initiatives.
“It’s a horrible situation, but by providing a space for this guy, you’re offering a quite literal platform for him,” Daniels said. “What everyone does when they allow them to speak publicly in a legitimate setting is they are advantaging their ideology. They’re legitimating it.”
Ho, the CU Boulder professor, said a January executive order issued by the Trump administration “ending federal censorship” would likely influence colleges’ decisions about shutting down white supremacist speakers.
“Colleges and universities are all too aware they are under a different kind of microscope now than they have ever been in the past,” Ho said.
Marshall said the university’s decision to allow Taylor to speak was influenced not by the federal administration, but by the university’s mission, vision and values.
“I would argue the antidote to ugly political movements and bad ideas is almost always more speech,” Marshall said. “Not less speech. That’s hard because it drives at all of our abilities to keep our cool when someone is making comments that we find dehumanizing. We also have to have in a democracy enough faith in our neighbors that we all have to listen to each other and sort out good ideas from bad.”
“I hope they change their mind”
Sarah Miller, a 21-year-old CMU freshman who grew up in Grand Junction, said she was disappointed and angry at her school. She referenced a March 7 email Marshall sent to the campus about the event in which he highlighted the university’s values.
“Two of those values are love and dignity,” Miller said. “If you’re going to provide a platform for a neo-Nazi to come speak, you’re throwing those completely out the window. It sends a message that protecting free speech is more important than you being safe and comfortable where you go to school.”
Miller said the event sparked an uproar on the campus, with upset students covering the school in posters asking whether Marshall supported fascism. Graffiti that said “No Nazis at CMU” was found on campus, the Daily Sentinel reported.
The Grand Junction Police Department will be stationed at the campus event for security, Marshall said. Student leaders also have organized a unity counter-event featuring live music and food at the same time. The campus expects protests, Marshall said.
“We’ll do everything in our power to ensure it doesn’t get disrupted,” he said. “That would be the worst-case scenario if he’s prevented from speaking.”
Marshall said he hopes student organizers are not bullied or shouted at but treated with kindness.
“I hope someone puts an arm around them and gives them a hug,” he said. “I hope they change their mind. If students are able to navigate this by animating our campus values and pushing back on all these ugly ideas with a much more hopeful, much more loving future, well, that would be something.”
Get more Colorado news by signing up for our Mile High Roundup email newsletter.