The Young Democratic Socialists of America chapter at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) has demanded the school makes a specific policy prohibiting “hate speech.” The call comes as the right-of-center ETSU chapter of Turning Point USA prepares to host Kyle Rittenhouse for a February 8 event they’re calling “The Rittenhouse Recap.”
ETSU’s Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) said Rittenhouse’s visit to campus is “in clear violation of ETSU’s supposed hate speech policy” in a Friday Instagram post. YDSA also demanded that ETSU’s president and student government issue a statement condemning the event.
Rittenhouse, a conservative speaker and author, was acquitted of all charges against him, including first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree recklessly endangering safety, after he shot three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.
In its Instagram post, YDSA demanded that ETSU rewrite its “hate speech policy” to be more specific and create a plan to enforce it.
The Tennessee Star contacted ETSU for comment on YDSA’s demands, and to clarify whether the university has a “hate speech policy,” but received no response by press time.
Tennessee universities must allow students and faculty “to invite guest speakers to engage in free speech regardless of the views of the speaker,” according to state law. Colleges may not disinvite speakers if what they have to say is “offensive,” among other things, the law continues.
“The First Amendment protects loathsome, distasteful, offensive, unpopular speech, and hate speech with the same force as it protects speech that is celebrated and widely accepted,” ETSU stated on its website.
The university’s student socialists group also said ETSU’s chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), which invited Rittenhouse, committed “visual violence” by promoting the speaking event with a video containing footage of Rittenhouse the night he shot three men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.)
In the same post, YDSA chided TPUSA for inviting Rittenhouse to campus for an event during Black History Month because he has “a history of anti-blackness.” Rittenhouse is connected to “groups associated with white supremacy” and has publicly displayed the “white power” symbol, YDSA asserted.
The Star reached out to the ETSU chapter of YDSA to ask if it would clarify the goals of its demands, but YDSA did not respond.
When political commentator Michael Knowles visited ETSU in 2023, one YDSA organizer said Knowles committed “violence” in an earlier speech, WJHL reported at the time. Earlier that year, Knowles gave a speech where he called for transgenderism to be “eradicated from public life entirely.”
TPUSA requires those who wish to attend the Rittenhouse speaking event to register for a free ticket on its website. The event, “Recap with Rittenhouse at East Tennessee State University,” is scheduled for February 8 at 7 p.m. ET.
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Matthew Giffin is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Matthew on X / Twitter.
Photo “Kyle Rittenhouse” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
