The rally came in response to the university’s affirmation of allowing Robert Spencer to speak on campus. Student senate originally approved the $2,000 required to bring Spencer to the college.

Spencer’s speaking engagement came with a significant law enforcement presence on Wednesday. The college decided to close his speech to the public because of safety concerns. By comparison, the rally had one or two police officers on hand.

Spencer acknowledged the backlash that predicated his speech, noting a lack of tolerance given to “intellectual diversity.” He accused the college’s president, Janet Riggs, of pressuring students not to attend.

In Spencer’s view, this all plays into stigmatizing those who share his views with labels of “Islamophobia.”

“The idea is to make everybody who speaks about the nature and magnitude of the Jihad threat honestly so toxic that other people are afraid to speak out,” he said.

Spencer read from the Quran and Sharia law to justify his beliefs. He maintained the quotes he read were what “the vast majority of Muslims believed.”

“Did I write that?” he asked. “Did I make that up?”

Gettysburg College students Siddhima Srivastava, left, and Cathy Adams hold a sign during a Muslim solidarity rally Wednesday, May 3, 2017. Robert Spencer, the director of Jihad Watch, gave a lecture at the same time in a different venue on the campus. Dan Rainville, The Evening Sun

 

Spencer responded to charges apparently made by Todd Green, a speaker at the college on Sunday night, on several occasions. The school scheduled Green, an associate professor of religious studies at Luther College, to make remarks and give students the choice in listening to opposing voices on the issue.

Spencer sarcastically referred to himself as a “vicious gargoyle” and “hate-filled Islamophobe.” He described a “wave of fascism on American campuses,” specifically from the left wing.

A college or university “ought to be a place where free inquiry is prized above all,” he said.

Green did not think Gettysburg College should have felt obligated to host Spencer in the name of free speech.

“At a time in which you can make the most outrageous claims and insinuations against Muslims, our nation needs academic institutions to raise the bar intellectually and morally when it comes to how we talk about Islam and those who practice it,” Green said in an email.

Some of the students attending Spencer’s presentation did not share his beliefs, but were merely curious and wanted to listen.

“Everything’s very polarized right now, so I think it’s important to understand both sides,” said Chris MacKenzie.

MacKenzie thought that Young Americans for Freedom, a conservative youth activist organization that requested Spencer come to campus, deserved to have their voices heard.

That didn’t mean MacKenzie subscribed to Spencer’s outlook on Islam.

“From what I can tell, Robert Spencer’s a quack,” he said prior to the presentation.

Despite the contentious issue, students supported each other’s attendance at the coinciding events.

Cost wore a Clinton-Kaine hoodie adorned with a green ribbon that represented solidarity with Muslims. He said although he didn’t love the idea of Spencer coming to campus, he knew it was a “free speech issue.”

“(Spencer) has every right to express what he believes,” Cost said.

Haley Gluhanich, attending Spencer’s speech, similarly did not understand the appeal of the opposing rally, but supported her fellow students’ right to hold it.

“As long as they do it in a peaceful way, then that’s fine,” she said.

This article is part of a partnership between WITF and the Hanover Evening Sun.