A campus-wide walkout is planned Tuesday at Kent State University鈥檚 Kent campus to protest an appearance by Kyle Rittenhouse. The Kent State chapter of the conservative group Turning Point USA is bringing Rittenhouse to campus to speak.
Rittenhouse was involved in the 2020 fatal shooting of two Black Lives Matter protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A third person was wounded. At his 2021 trial, Rittenhouse claimed self-defense and was acquitted of all charges.
The announcement to bring Rittenhouse to Kent State has sparked controversy, with some students calling for him to be banned from campus.
Aimee Flores, a Kent State student and president of the student group, Spanish and Latine Student Association, started a petition in opposition to Rittenhouse鈥檚 appearance She and fellow student Aciano Rosales, staid they were concerned when they heard the news.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a reminder that even though we do have very progressive values as a university, like for the most part we do tend to protect LGBTQ students and students of color,鈥� Flores said. 鈥淚t still feels reminiscent of the fact that Kyle Rittenhouse represents somebody that does not care a lot about progressive social issues. It鈥檚 very disrespectful to our organization, especially when we represent so many minority students.鈥�
Flores said the petition has over 3,000 signatures. She said they鈥檙e also calling for a walkout on the day of speech to protest his visit and out of concern for students鈥� safety.
鈥淥ur walkout is just a way to get students off campus, because of how concerned we are with the reactions we鈥檝e gotten from both sides of the event,鈥� Rosales said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just genuinely scary with how comfortable people are expressing threats or just general hate speech, especially targeted towards people who want to protest.鈥�
Brady Seymour, president of the Kent State chapter of Turning Point USA, said the group is hoping for a peaceful turnout and welcomes everyone who wants to come as long as they don鈥檛 hassle Rittenhouse.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to deter anyone from going just because we do have conservative views,鈥� Seymour said. 鈥淲e invite everyone to enjoy the event and come to listen and ask questions. Just don鈥檛 ruin the experience for everyone else who has actually taken the time out of their day to set up the event and who has come to see the event.鈥�
Seymour said that Turning Point is bringing in Rittenhouse because it believes that his story is important.
鈥淲e believe he has a very interesting story about standing up for yourself, standing up for what you believe in and standing up for what you believe is right at a time where you can face scrutiny for it,鈥� Seymour said.
鈥淩egistered student organizations are free to invite speakers of their choosing,鈥� Todd Diacon, president of Kent State, said in a statement. 鈥淟egally, as a public university, we are not able to constrain the speech of others, no matter how much we disagree with what any particular speaker is saying.鈥�
Though students are pressing the university to cancel the event, Gary Daniels with the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said that the university鈥檚 hands are tied in the matter as it involves free speech.
鈥淯nder almost every situation, the university shouldn鈥檛 be doing anything and is prevented from doing anything,鈥� Daniels said. 鈥淗ere you have a student organization, which has its own First Amendment rights, inviting a speaker to speak. A controversial speaker, absolutely, but the First Amendment tries to protect against the government making these decisions based on people they like versus people they don鈥檛 like.鈥�
According to Daniels, the only way that Kent State would be able to cancel the event is if he was inciting violence in one way or another.
鈥淪o, if you have somebody who鈥檚 got the crowd whipped into a frenzy and you鈥檙e standing there in the middle of Kent State University, and you鈥檝e got everyone really worked up,鈥� Daniels said. And you say, 鈥榥ot only should Kent State burn to the ground, I think we should do it right now鈥�. Then people rush to burn down Kent State University on the spot, you鈥檙e going to have a harder time arguing First Amendment rights.鈥�
Tickets are free, and the 6 p.m. event at the Kiva open to the public.