UFF-UF Opposes White Supremacist Speaker (Fall, 2017)
On October 19, 2017, avowed white supremacist Richard Spencer spoke on the University of Florida campus. UFF-UF voiced opposition against Spencer’s appearance when it was first proposed in August 2017, just days after a deadly rally of white nationalist groups in Charlottesville, VA, at which Spencer was present. We held that Spencer’s appearance here presented a danger to faculty, staff, and students. And, because the university is required to ensure safe working conditions, free from discrimination or harassment, it may have represented a violation of our Collective Bargaining Agreement.
A full account of this event, and the union’s role in it, can be found here: Nazis on Campus: A Union and Community Responds by Susan Hegeman and Paul Ortiz (PDF, 139 KB)
Other resources:
- “‘Richard Spencer, Alt-Right Leader, says his rallies no longer ‘fun’” USA Today, March 12, 2018
- Dror Abend-David: “Propagating Nazi Ideology is not Free Speech” Gainesville Sun, October 13, 2017
- “‘We are paying attention’: After Richard Spencer returned to Charlottesville, the University of Florida braces” Washington Post, October 9, 2017
- UFF-UF petition to UF President Kent Fuchs and the Board of Trustees, asking that they cancel the Spencer event
- Steve Kirn, Paul Ortiz, and Susan Hegeman: “UF Employee Safety Imperiled By Spencer Visit” Gainesville Sun, October 6, 2017
- “UFF-UF and GAU-UF urge cancellation of white supremacist speaker at UF” UFF-UF, August 16, 2017
- “Q&A For Richard Spencer 10/19 Event” University of Florida
- “The Alt-Right on Campus: What Students Need to Know” Southern Poverty Law Center
- “Richard Bertrand Spencer” Southern Poverty Law Center’s Extremist Files
- “Richard Spencer and Academic Freedom” by Dror Abend-David
updated 9/8/2021
