ASU Paid $11K in Security Costs for a White Nationalist Who Spoke on Campus in 2022

Arizona State University spent more than $11,000 on security for a speech on campus by white nationalist Jared Taylor last year, public records show.

In September 2022, the far-right student group Arizona State University College Republicans United invited Taylor to speak. Two days prior, the group hosted Kai Schwemmer, an associate of white supremacist Nick Fuentes, and other members of Fuentes’ “groyper army.”

The Mirror requested records related to the event’s security shortly after the event took place. ASU took 390 days to release the documents, which show the ASU Police Department paid for the event’s additional security as well as the salaries of ASU PD and Tempe Police Officers.

“We are required by state statute to address the security of individuals attending a speaker event on campus, and especially with potentially contentious events, there is a cost we incur to make the event as safe as possible for speakers and attendees,” an ASU spokesman said in a statement to the Mirror.

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The event garnered controversy in the days leading up to it. Taylor has a history of racism going back to the 1990s, when he created a think tank that aimed to create research proving the superiority of whites.

The event was titled “If We Do Nothing: A Defense of White Identity Politics,” which refers to one of Taylor’s books.

The national College Republicans United group, which oversees chapters at ASU and other campuses across the country, recommends one of Taylor’s books under a section titled “First Set of Red Pills.” {snip}

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In total, ASUPD paid $11,294.64 to provide security for the event. State law says that a university “shall make reasonable efforts and make available reasonable resources to address the safety of an invited speaker and other persons in attendance.”

The law permits the University from charging security fees “based on the content of the speech of the person who invited a speaker or of the invited speaker.” The University is also allowed to “restrict the use of its nonpublic facilities to invited individuals.”

The event took place at one of ASU’s largest conference halls and drew ire from ASU students who saw the event taking place there as ASU tacitly endorsing Taylor’s white supremacist views. {snip}

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