After dozens of protesters derailed Kyle Rittenhouse’s brief speaking event at the University of Memphis, Western Kentucky University is bracing for a similar turnout as the campus prepares for his appearance this week.
Rittenhouse will be visiting WKU on Wednesday for his “Rittenhouse Recap” event, featuring his remarks on the importance of the Second Amendment and the “lies” of the Black Lives Matter Movement, according to the event page.
His appearance at the University of Memphis last week sets a potential tone for how he might be received at other campuses on his speaking tour.
Local reports said hundreds of demonstrators turned up to protest his event. Several Black students staged a walkout inside the venue, and audience members drowned out his remarks until he was finally booed off stage. Several videos captured state troopers escorting Rittenhouse and event organizers off campus after he abruptly left the stage.
The University of Memphis student body chased Kyle Rittenhouse off the campus tonight pic.twitter.com/SbAXO54gSs
— TarZangief (@TarZangief) March 21, 2024
Anne-Elizabeth Matheny, founder of the U of M Turning Point USA chapter, who organized his speech at the university, told ABC24: “He couldn’t get a single word out,” Matheny said. “Every time he said 1-2 words, then he was being screamed at.”
Protestors reportedly chased her and other Turning Point USA members.
I’ve definitely had death threats before, but it’s never been so physical and real,” Matheny said. “So just having people chase after you; not knowing if people are armed, not know[ing] what people could throw at you and just trying to get to your car safely is very overwhelming and something I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”
Rittenhouse will speak at WKU on Wednesday and then make a stop at Kent State University in April, where several students have already lodged complaints about his appearance.
The local NAACP branch in Bowling Green, Kentucky, where WKU is located, has already denounced the event, along with student organizations like the WKU National Pan-Hellenic Council, Black Student Alliance, Queer Student Union, and the NAACP Collegiate Chapter. Some groups are also gearing up to demonstrate.
“The essence of divisive rhetoric is what he’s going to speak about,” Bowling Green/Warren County NAACP President Ryan Dearbone told The Courier-Journal. “I was just saddened and disgusted that a group would think that he would be a good person to bring to campus. There are a majority of students that don’t want him on campus, and it’s not politically driven. It’s simply because they don’t want a person like that on their campus spewing rhetoric that is dangerous and divisive.”
WKU Police, Kentucky State Police, Bowling Green Police, and Warren County Sheriff’s Office officials will be monitoring the event. The campus police chief shared his hopes for more peaceful demonstrations than what went down at the University of Memphis.
“It is a concern. We’re hoping that it (won’t) be like that here at WKU,” campus Police Chief Mitchell Walker said. “We’re hoping it’ll be more peaceful than that, so we’re just trying to make sure we have enough folks in place … to make sure that tempers don’t flare.”
Even after numerous demands emerged to call off the events, each university sided with the Turning Point USA chapters who invited Rittenhouse, citing free speech and First Amendment rights.
“As guardians of free speech, universities have an obligation to establish an environment where a wide range of perspectives are exchanged, even if the ideas presented are different from our own, offensive or even contemptible,” WKU President Tim Caboni told Bowling Green Daily News, adding that “the cure for speech with which we disagree is not less speech but more speech.”
Rittenhouse was acquitted of the charges he faced for fatally shooting two men in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during a protest in 2020 against the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
