Lindsay Ellis Nov. 23, 2016 Updated: Nov. 23, 2016 6:23 p.m.
A white nationalist whose recent speech in the nation's capital drew Nazi salutes is slated to speak at Texas A&M University next month, eliciting anger and widespread calls for the university to call off the event. A prominent Houston lawyer whose son attends the university even offered to represent A&M if it cancels the speech and gets sued.
Richard Spencer, head of the National Policy Institute, plans to appear at Texas A&M on Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. in the Memorial Student Center in an event organized by a former student, also a white nationalist and political activist.
The former A&M student organizing Spencer's appearance said the timing is right because Donald Trump's presidential election gives Spencer's views more appeal. Spencer unabashedly espouses anti-Semitism and white supremacy.
The institute run by Spencer says it is "dedicated to the heritage, identity and future of people of European descent in the United States, and around the world." The Southern Poverty Law Center has called him "a suit-and-tie version of the white supremacists of old."
On Saturday, speaking to an event at the Ronald Reagan Building held by the institute, Spencer shouted "Heil Trump, Heil our people, Heil victory," to audience applause.
After word spread about his speech planned at A&M, reactions rippled beyond the College Station campus to the university's alumni community and even to the Texas House of Representatives. By Wednesday evening, more than 4,800 people had signed an online petition urging A&M to denounce Spencer and cancel his visit to campus.
Alumni urged one another to call the president's office to express their outrage. Students started to plan protests for the day of the Spencer's visit.
State Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said despite the need to protect free speech the university should call off the event because it could incite violence on campus. "We need to protect the safety and security of our students," he said.
University spokeswoman Amy Smith said Texas A&M does not "endorse his rhetoric in any way" and that the school did not invite Spencer to speak. Private citizens can reserve campus space at A&M for private functions so long as they pay for all expenses, including security, she said.
When asked if Texas A&M would cancel the event, Smith said, "I don't think that's something we're able to do, no matter how reprehensible we find this individual's choice of words."
Houston civil attorney John Raley disagreed. Raley, the father of a Texas A&M student, wrote a letter to university President Michael Young. He wrote that the First Amendment may not protect Spencer's expressed views, which he said "intentionally and recklessly inflict severe emotional distress."
"But even if his hateful words survive a First Amendment analysis, you do not need to allow them on campus," he wrote, citing the University of Oklahoma president's decision to expel students in Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after video of members singing a racist song circulated.
"It's really up to Texas A&M," he said in an interview, offering to represent the university in court. "They need to choose who they are. They need to decide if this will reflect their values."
Preston Wiginton, who took classes at A&M in 2006 and 2007, told the Houston Chronicle he arranged for Spencer to speak at the campus student center. The building was dedicated for alumni who died in action during World War I and World War II.
Wiginton has sponsored controversial speakers in the past at A&M. In 2007, he hosted Nick Griffin, then president of the British National Party, and he brought white nationalist Jared Taylor to campus several years later.
He said Texas A&M has "accommodating" speech policies, but that he hosts speakers there because he is familiar with the university. "If I could find the avenues and routes of doing this at other campuses," he said, "I would happily do it."
Should the university try to cancel Spencer's appearance, Wiginton said, he'd take legal action.
"White America is sick and tired of a double standard, sick and tired of political correctness," he said. "Trump was a voice that gives them courage to stand up and speak out."
Lia Epps, a graduate student at Texas A&M's Bush School of Government and Public Service, said there was "unrest and uneasiness" among her peers on Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving break.
"The majority of people understand that A&M didn't invite Richard Spencer to come and speak," she said. "But it's still appalling that he's going to be there."
Rabbi Matt Rosenberg, who leads the campus Hillel, alerted the Anti-Defamation League to the event on Wednesday morning.
"I think for the vast majority of students, even though it's a conservative student body, they're definitely against people like (Spencer)," he said.