White nationalist Tyler Tenbrink of Houston, Texas, is handcuffed by Florida Highway Patrol troopers at a speech by white supremacist Richard Spencer at the University of Florida campus on October 19, 2017, in Gainesville, Florida. Tenbrink was later arrested, along with friends William Fears and Colton Fears, as suspects in a shooting following the speech. (Photo: Brian Blanco/Getty Images)
“When I see these people on the roofs,” said University of Florida (UF) student Ebony Love, gesturing to the groups of snipers on nearby campus buildings, “I understand the reason why they’re up there, but at the same time, you have to take my money and pay for that, but I couldn’t get an escort to walk me to my classes, and you said you were going to post security outside these classes and you didn’t.”
When I talked to her, Love was leaning on a police barricade set up outside of the auditorium on campus where prominent white supremacist Richard Spencer was due to speak on October 19. The night before, however, Love was escorting a student to an 8 pm exam. She and another student sat watch outside for two hours in lieu of the campus security she said the university had promised but failed to provide.
Sacrificing Safety
Across the country, the education and safety of students is being sacrificed for the sake of accommodating a few well-financed bigots sowing an atmosphere of divisive aggression on college campuses. Security budgets for these events range upwards of $500,000, but few students and residents of the nearby community feel protected — and often feel greatly encumbered.
“We can’t carry backpacks,” lamented a graduate teaching assistant at UF who wished to remain anonymous given the precarity of his position. “Buses aren’t functioning. Kids can’t park to even come to campus.” A layered police perimeter about a mile in diameter prohibited traffic and enforced a restrictive list of banned items. In addition to various weapons, common items students might carry to class such as…