On April 16, far-right extremist Milo Yiannopoulos is slated to speak at Eisenhower Auditorium as Turning Point USA's latest installment of PSU-funded sexual assault and pedophilia apologists. 

Milo Yiannopolous has been banned from Twitter for a racist targeted harassment campaign. He also lost his job at Breitbart news, his book deal, and his position with CPAC after he infamously condoned sexual relations between 13 year olds and much-older adults in 2017. Milo has also engaged in activities including but not limited to antisemitic harassment of a Jewish journalist, encouraging his fans to harass and catcall women on "World Patriarchy Day", harassing and outing a transgender student by name, telling victims to “get over” sexual assault on college campuses, and much, much more.

In short, Milo "not a Nazi" Yiannopolous had at one point made a lucrative career out painting himself as a professional victim and free speech martyr by defending his God-given right to promote pedophilia and harass minorities, while increasingly ineffectively maintaining plausible deniability for his actions. Now, he is millions of dollars in debt due in part to deplatforming efforts as well as the fact that no responsible university is willing to risk the shootings, stabbings, and $100,000 in damages associated with his events for the sake of entertaining his transparently violent rhetoric. 

After all, Milo's hatred is not limited to mere words (i.e. targeted harassment and bullying). Rather, Yiannopolous has encouraged violent political terrorism on more than one occasion. In one instance, he praised the use of pipe bombs as a means of silencing his political opponents. In another instance, he made public comments encouraging "gunning journalists down" and subsequently denied any responsibility for the deaths of the five journalists killed in a shooting the next day. Additionally, during Milo's event at University of Washington, a Milo fan sent a Facebook message saying “I’m going to the Milo event and if the snowflakes get out off hand I’m just going to wade through their ranks and start cracking skulls.” The fascist then proceeded to permanently injure a protester by shooting him in the abdomen. 

Considering that  far-right extremists were responsible for every single one of the 50+ extremism-related killing in 2018, violent incidents such as these cannot be considered in isolation. Platforming violent right-wing extremist Milo Yiannopolous makes Penn State complicit in the largest domestic terrorist threat in the United States. It is not simply a bad look for the university. This petition is not merely about "not liking what Milo has to say." By hosting a violent fascist like Milo Yiannopolous, the administration has blood on its hands.

Penn State's decision to endanger its community and further the career of a pedophile-enabler may be predictable, but it is absolutely unacceptable. As both common sense and recent history suggest, inviting speakers who abuse their platform to "ironically" encourage acts of white nationalist terrorism does not in fact  promote free speech, but rather endangers minority students and students with differing political opinions. 

This is not free speech, it is violence. No amount of buckling down on campus police presence can effectively ensure the safety of attendees and peaceful protesters at this event.

As peaceful protesters ourselves, the organizers of this petition would prefer not to risk being doxxed, harrassed, or shot simply for exercising our own right to free speech and nonviolent protest. We would rather the university legitimately hear student concerns by taking action to protect its students rather than make empty promises about its commitment to safety, diversity, and inclusion. 

Additionally, while we currently lack access to information regarding the funding process for Milo's event, the funding for last semester's TPUSA speaker, Carl Benjamin (AKA Sargon of Akkad) was "fast-tracked" by Student Affairs Vice President Damon Sims, who intentionally bypassed a democratic UPAC student committee vote.

In doing so, Sims undermined student democracy and forced PSU students to contribute $1,180.02 in mandatory student fees toward the travel expenses of a white nationalist figure best-known for his rape comments towards a member of UK parliament. We are outraged by the lack of student agency within the allocation process for student event funding and demand policy changes as outlined here.

Penn State's decision to platform and line the pockets of yet another white supremacist at the cost of student safety demonstrates a characteristic disinterest in any pressing student concerns which conflict with the administration's agenda. We resolve to hold the university accountable for it. 

Sign the petition to deplatform fascist violence and make Milo broke again! 

#WE ARE against fascism!