Citing violence that's broken out at Spencer events and other happenings in the recent past, he announced Monday he is declaring a State of Emergency for Alachua County, the north-central Florida county that is home to UF.
“I find that the threat of a potential emergency is imminent,” Scott said in his order declaring an emergency state, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The move allows more state resources to shift to the county by allowing Florida Department of Law Enforcement officials to help contain the situation if tensions between far-right Spencer ideologues and what will likely be swarms of protesters objecting to Spencer's being there.
It comes after deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia that was spurred by clashes between white supremacists marching on the University of Virginia campus and protesters objecting to their presence and their message. It also comes after Spencer appearances at universities in other states sparked massive protests.
Spencer was originally scheduled to speak at University of Florida in September, but UF officials canceled his appearance out of concern that bloody clashes would break out. But they reversed that decision amid criticism that, given the First Amendment, a university ought to allow all points of view — even the abhorrent ones — on campus.
Spencer is expected to speak Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned.
This article appears in Oct 12-19, 2017.