Fight Back Against the Proud Boys on Campus
Note: This is the text of a community alert that was sent out on October 20, 2022 to students and faculty of Penn State by SCDS.
“There is no world in which it is appropriate for a university to provide a platform for Gavin McInnes, who founded and continues to promote one of the largest and most destructive hate groups in the country.”
— Cassie Miller, senior research analyst with SPLC’s Intelligence Project
***For more information and ongoing updates, please follow @scds_sc on Instagram, reach out to us via email, visit our linktree at linktr.ee/scds_sc, and visit the protest website at standupfightbackpsu.wordpress.com.***
Attention all students, faculty, and staff:
The Penn State University Administration is inviting both short-term and long-term white supremacist and neofascist violence into our community by permitting $7,500 of student fees and Penn State’s platform to be given to Gavin McInnes, the founder of a white supremacist street gang called the Proud Boys, to hold an event on campus on Monday, October 24th.
Stand Up, Fight Back!
We are calling all students and people of conscience to join the student-organized and community-supported “Stand Up, Fight Back” protest at 6:00pm on Monday, October the 24th, outside the Thomas Building.
It is right to stand up to and directly oppose figures like McInnes, organizations like Uncensored America, and enablers like Penn State Admin. We cannot allow the admin’s betrayal to go unchallenged, or else they will only do worse to us — we need to show them that it costs to betray students.
If we stand together, we far outnumber and we’re far stronger together than the Proud Boys or the Admin — let’s turn out, stand up, and show Admin that this campus belongs to the people of Penn State, not the adminstrators. Let’s show McInnes and Uncensored American that our campus is not their recruiting grounds!
Demand Action from the PSU Admin
In addition, if you want to add your voice to the thousands already raised against what Admin is doing, you can sign the petition here.
Despite having cancelled events like this before, such as neonazi Richard Spencer’s speaking engagement in 2017 because “the First Amendment does not require our University to risk imminent violence,” they are choosing to value far-right donors over short-term and long-term student safety (tinyurl.com/pennstatespencer).
Walk Out for the Protest on 10/24
We are also calling on students to walk out of class on Monday, 10/24, and for all professors to understand that this event poses serious stress for students and to excuse absences that day if you do not cancel class.
It’s Not Speech — It’s Neo-Fascist Violence.
We must be clear: the problem with McInnes being invited to our campus has nothing to do with speech.
The idea that “free speech” is what’s at stake is a disingenuous marketing tactic on the part of Uncensored America and the Penn State Admin. This is about the Penn State Administration materially supporting and legitimizing the spread of neofascist violence and ideology on our campus by providing McInnes with this platform. McInnes is coming here to embolden existing white supremacist elements in State College. He is coming to recruit and build a neofascist network through the event, the $100 meet-and-greet dinners he will be hosting, and whatever other meetings with local white supremacists that are off the record.
Therefore, allowing this event to happen will not just be paying and platforming a man who has no ideas but violence and hate, but will make our campus less safe for the most vulnerable among us long after the event is over. Penn State says they care about marginalized students, yet they pay neofascists to come here and advocate for oppression and violence against them. We must show them we will not stand by and accept their hypocrisy.
“Together We Are” is meaningless unless we stand up and fight back.
We also urge all professors who receive this email to not promote Penn State’s “Together We Are” event. “Together We Are” is nothing if we do not stand up and fight back. This “counter-program” is a cover-up operation, hiding the fact that Penn State is deciding to pay and platform white supremacists. Simultaneously, they are attempting to channel student energy into outlets that do not truly challenge fascists or hold PSU accountable for what they are doing. These events are meant to allow fascists to continue to gather on campus unhindered.
For more information about all of this, including answers to safety concerns about the protest, please see below!
To donate and support the printing, equipment, and event costs associated with our fight against neo-fascism, our Venmo is @scdssc and our cashapp is $scdssc. Any little thing helps if you are in a position to spare it. We salute your solidarity.
Questions and Answers
1. Who and what are the Proud Boys and Gavin McInnes?
The Proud Boys are a violent street gang of self-proclaimed “Western chauvinists” who have been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for espousing extremist white nationalist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, and fascist rhetoric.
Although McInnes has performatively distanced himself from them, his rhetoric and ideology still align with theirs, and he maintains an influential role in their leadership. Furthermore, McInnes himself has a long history of explicitly advocatingfor violence.
2. Can PSU’s Admin actually cancel Uncensored America’s event?
Yes, they can cancel it. Penn State insists that their hands are tied by the free speech rights of student organizations, but in 2017 they refused Richard Spencer the right to use our campus as a platform. PSU is allowing this to happen not because their hands are tied, nor because they care about “free speech,” but because they want money from wealthy, far-right donors who are more endangered by resistance to fascism than fascism itself. Then, they create a meaningless parallel event in order to try and fool liberals and progressives into thinking they give a damn — it’s like a punch in the face followed by a mocking pat on the back. We must call them on this duplicity.
5. Will it be safe for me to go to this protest?
The short answer is, yes, and the more people that come, the safer it will be, so please do your part and join your fellow students and community members! The three best tools against possible protest risks are a plan, organization, and numbers. This protest will have all of those. No one has ever been hurt or arrested at an SCDS action. However, even walking around and participating in public life poses risks — there is no such thing as a truly “safe space,” a reality that marginalized people understand all too well. While protest always carries a degree of risk, the level of this risk is always determined by the specific conditions of the protest in question.
The Protest is Safer Than Almost Anywhere Else in State College
Counterintuitively, in this case, because of the large numbers of students that attend, the protest will probably be one of the safest places on campus that night, especially the more people that attend. Please do your part for your fellow students and come and be safer and stronger together. Furthermore, the Penn State administration has used your money to fund a large security force. Since we do not ourselves like to rely on the police who are present, SCDS will be providing its own security to protect people. There will also be legal observors to keep the police in line.
Downtown is the Real Danger
The most seriously dangerous places will be everywhere in town that is away from the protest and campus, where white supremacists are not faced with hundreds of enraged and united students and a massive (and expensive) security force trying to protect Penn State’s brand image. We advise you not to go downtown or walk around away from campus alone on Monday night or for the next few days; that is where McInnes’ Proud Boy followers will be waiting to attack students and community members. This is where the neofascist violence that Admin has invited into town will likely take place in the short term.
The Most Secure Place is Inside Thomas Building
The safest place in town will actually be inside the event itself — Penn State has spared no expense (drawn from student dollars) protecting neofascists and saving their brand image: there will be security check points at the entrance (no weapons inside), pat downs, everything will be filmed, and there will be security in the room. Safety has been well-purchased inside the small event room and away from the town. Additionally, these security forces have been instructed to do everything humanly possible not to make Penn State not look like a fascist-loving, repressive school — even if that is what they are beneath the “happy valley” veneer. The Penn State admin really, really does not want students to get hurt. It’s not because they care about us students, obviously; we are nothing but dollar signs to them. Students getting hurt, however, would be seriously bad for their brand, and they don’t want that.
Imagine the following news headline — Even though Penn State cancelled neonazi Richard Spencer in 2017 (tinyurl.com/pennstatespencer), they chose to host McInnes in 2022 because they thought they could get away with it. They simply chose to expose students to risk rather than alienate far right donors, rather than go to court and find out again that the 1st amendment does not require PSU to expose students to the risk of violence.
6. How will the protest play out?
Arrive as early as you can and stay until the end to shame and oppose whoever is attending this event. Throughout, we will do our best to oppose it in whatever way we can. We will bring snacks (and we are asking folks to bring as many snacks and water as they can!) But we also recommend you eat a big meal and get hydrated before coming. If you have to go to the “Together We Are” cover-up event because of some organizational commitment you can’t control, we encourage you to come to the protest outside Thomas afterward. The McInnes event starts at 7:30 and ends at 10:00pm. We are encouraging people to stay the whole time as an act of solidarity and commitment to opposing neofascism and white supremacy.
We plan to make the protest as enjoyable as possible so people can stay until after the disturbing McInnes event has concluded. We can’t wait to see you there and look forward to uniting with all Penn State students against the shameful Penn State Administration and Neofascist ringleaders like McInnes.
For all their talk, dangerous buffoons like McInnes are built like houses of cards. However, if we do nothing and ignore them, they will win by default and terrorize all of us. Once they’ve gathered enough power and legitimacy — such as Penn State is affording them — even houses of cards can become truly terrible monsters.
Ignoring or laughing them off doesn’t hurt these houses of cards; it helps them. With houses of cards, you don’t laugh at them or ignore them if you want them to go away — you have to make them fall down or else they stay up. This is a silly lie told by administrators who want right-wing support; these neofascists are recruiters, networkers, and ringleaders who want political and cultural legitimacy, not protest. However, if we mobilize while we can; go to the protest and fight back at every future point; and stand together with marginalized people as a large and organized mass, the foolish house of cards that is Gavin McInnes and the worthless Proud Boys who follow him will collapse.
