GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -- The University of Florida says it has confirmed Oct. 19 for a speaking event featuring white nationalist Richard Spencer.
The school released a statement Thursday making the previously tentative date official.
The university said it will charge “allowable” costs of $10,564 to the Spencer-led National Policy Institute to rent the Phillips Center and for security inside the venue.
However, the school says the event will cost the university more than $500,000 and other agencies to enhance security on campus and in the city of Gainesville for the event.
The university has repeatedly stated that it will not be affiliated with the event in any way, but as a public institution, the school is legally obligated to allow the expression of many viewpoints by external groups, such as Spencer's National Policy Institute.
The University of Florida previously denied the group's request to hold an event on Sept. 12, citing recent violence at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
President W. Kent Fuchs said at the time that the First Amendment doesn't require risking imminent violence to students.
