MEMPHIS, Tenn. — More than six months after students protested a speech with Kyle Rittenhouse, a conservative Christian group is asking the University of Memphis to reschedule the event.
Rittenhouse was the featured speaker at the event sponsored by Turning Point USA (TPUSA) at the U of M campus on March 20, 2024. He became known for shooting three men and killing two of them during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and was later was acquitted of the charges.
Attorneys with Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) said they sent a demand letter to University of Memphis officials asking them to reschedule Rittenhouse’s speech, provide security, and refund the original security fee TPUSA paid for the March event.
The ADF called the March protesters a “mob” that “shut down” the event.
During the controversial March speech, students protested for hours before and during the event. Inside the University Center Theatre, Rittenhouse got through just a few sentences before students booed him into switching to the Q&A portion of his speech. The night ended with protesters running after the TPUSA Leadership team.
The ADF said the university charged TPUSA $1,600 for security “that stood idly by and allowed the mob to shut down the event.” The group also complained about switching from the TPUSA ticketing to a ticketing program that they said allowed students to reserve seats, then not show up - or show up as protesters.
“College campuses are meant to be a safe haven for the open exchange of ideas, but more and more, university officials are choosing to let violent mobs disrupt events for the purpose of shutting down speech they don’t like,” said ADF Legal Counsel Mathew Hoffmann. “The University of Memphis failed to uphold the Constitution and Tennessee law that protect free speech on college campuses. Instead of enforcing rules and empowering security to take action, campus officials allowed unruly students to issue a heckler’s veto at the expense of TPUSA. We are urging officials to right their wrongs and allow this event to take place again without any issue.”
ABC24 has reached out to University of Memphis officials and will update this story with their response.
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