The University of Florida rejected a request by a group headed by white rights activist Richard Spencer, who is president of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think tank.
The university cited safety concerns after the deadly Charlottesville, Virginia, attack that left a woman dead, according to The Associated Press.
Spencer, 39, describes himself as an identitarian and advocates for a white homeland. Critics have called him a white supremacist and a leader of the “alt-right.”
“I don’t use the term white nationalist to describe myself,” he previously said. “I like the term alt-right. It has an openness to it. And immediately understandable. We’re coming from a new perspective.”
In a statement, W. Kent Fuchs, head of the University of Florida, said that the school evaluated the risks after the incident in Charlottesville on Saturday revolving around a protest to the planned removal a Confederate statue.
