Classmates demand student who organized Charlottesville rally be expelled
On Monday, about 20 students disrupted a speech by Stanislaus State President Ellen Junn.
The students were holding signs denouncing white supremacy and protesting against the recent violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Specifically, they had also called for the removal of one of their classmates, Nathan Damigo. They wanted him to be expelled as part of a proposed policy of zero tolerance for white supremacy and hated.
Damigo was arrested for punching a woman in Berkeley during a clash of protesters and is the founder of a white supremacist group. He was also a co-organizer of the Charlottesville rally.
— The notion that our ancestors were complacent is a myth —
“Hate speech and separatist speech can’t hide behind free speech anymore,” said Jared Brown, one of the student protesters.
Stanislaus State spokeswoman Rosalee Rush said that the protest was a good exercise of free speech and that the school was working on a campaign to encourage free speech.
“It was important for her [Ellen Junn] to hear the students, and it was important for her to give the students a voice,” said Rush.
Rush then talked up the school president’s campaign, saying that it was supposed to fight hateful rhetoric.
“She’s going to commission us to work with the students, work with the campus community, and the larger community to come up with messaging that counteracts that (hate).”
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