Compiled by Alyssa Loftis | Freelancer  &  Sage Kiernan-Sherrow | News Editor

“Hate speech is not free speech,” assured Western Oregon University’s President Rex Fuller, during the Nov. 7 event titled “Free Speech on Campus: Controversial Speakers, University Preparedness and Legal Considerations.”  Following a brief statement from President Fuller, ASWOU’s current President, Erik Morgan Jr., and Ryan Hagemann, Western’s Vice Chancellor of the Legal Counsel, allowed the audience to voice their questions and concerns. Most of the questions and concerns were regarding the controversy that stemmed from the College Republican Club inviting Patriot Prayer leader, Joey Gibson to campus last June, which was approved by the administration, despite student retaliation.

Much of the retaliation was due to concerns over safety. At the time of the presentation held on June 4, Gibson — who calls himself a “conservative activist” — had multiple court cases filed against him for inciting violence. Additionally, Gibson’s ideology clashes with Western’s student government values as portrayed through ASWOU’s statement released before the event. What’s more, students were told about the event on May 30, giving students little time to process and causing polarizing tensions to rise quickly. 

This was addressed during the free speech discussion, when one student asked: “you mentioned over and over that you had those weeks in advance of knowledge. You know that something like this is coming, and you know that there are going to be students that don’t feel welcomed … what is the administration going to do specifically to present a much stronger stance rather than just sending out a letter that sort of has these platitudes about how we value diversity (and) ensure that there is a fail safe resource available for students?”

On the day of the event, some professors urged their students to “stay at home,” in fear of violence ensuing. As anticipated, protests against the event — and against the administration who allowed it — occurred shortly thereafter, although they remained nonviolent. 

Director of Public Safety Rebecca Chiles defined her role here at Western, in addition to shedding light on the decisions and planning that goes into preparing for emergencies. Regarding future events like the one featuring Gibson, Chiles said, “we move forward with safety being our number one priority … always. The safety of our folks on campus is going to come first.” She later added that, “we need people to attend those things; first aid, CPR … get certified … that’s the best way to move forward, with all of us collaboratively to be a disaster-resilient university.”

For information regarding the June 4 event, refer to the previous article on wou.edu/westernhowl.

Contact the authors at aloftis18@wou.edu and howlnews@wou.edu

Photos by Mikayla Bruley