A far-right protest group whose Portland demonstrations often lead to violence will go to two Clark County college campuses next week.
Members of Patriot Prayer will protest Initiative 1639, November’s gun safety initiative, Monday at Clark College and Tuesday at Washington State University Vancouver. Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson of Vancouver estimates there will be about 40 protesters at the respective campuses, handing out fliers and encouraging people to vote against the ballot measure.
But the planned protests raise questions about what types of public demonstrations are permitted on a college campus, especially given the organization’s ties to fringe right and white nationalist organizations and its propensity for stoking violent confrontations in typically liberal cities.
“Any group that has been publicly linked to public violence is obviously going to be of concern to the college,” Clark College spokeswoman Hannah Erickson said.
Clark College restricts public protests — what it calls “First Amendment activity” — to specific locations on campus. Demonstrators are allowed at the sundial between Anna Pechanec Hall and the Science Building on the east side of campus, or on the lawn south of the Royce E. Pollard Japanese Friendship Garden at the campus’ south end. Groups are encouraged, though not required, to alert the campus at least 24 hours before their planned event. Clark College spokeswoman Hannah Erickson said no one from Patriot Prayer has contacted the college, and attempts to reach out to organizers through the Facebook event page have gone unanswered.
“We encourage civil public discourse about a wide range of topics,” Erickson said. “Our concern is more about the discourse being civil and the safety of our students and our employees.”
But Gibson disagreed with that assessment, saying college officials can “try to stop us if they want.”
“They’re not going to stop us talking to students. It’s not going to happen,” Gibson said. “They try to tell me there’s a limited spot for free speech, and it’s absolutely not true.”
College campuses have historically been permitted to limit demonstrations to “free-speech areas,” locations on campus where protestors can gather.
A series of lawsuits and legislative actions in recent years is killing those policies, however. As of March, nine states had banned limited “free-speech areas,” including Florida, Colorado and Arizona, according to The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
WSU Vancouver’s rules are looser, allowing protesters to gather and demonstrate anywhere outdoors so long as they don’t interrupt students’ education, spokeswoman Brenda Alling said.
In an open letter sent to the campus community Tuesday, several student LGBTQ, Muslim, Asian-Pacific Islander, African-American, Vietnamese and Latino groups called on students and staff to not attend class Oct. 23, citing Patriot Prayer’s ties to fringe groups and violent history as a risk to students.
I-639, if approved, would give Washington some of the nation’s strictest gun-safety laws. It would raise the minimum age to buy a semi-automatic firearm from 18 to 21, require firearms training before a semi-automatic rifle can be purchased and institute a 10-day waiting period for individuals looking to purchase the weapon.
And while Gibson criticized the initiative as “fascist,” it appears he’s in the minority in progressive Washington. A recent Crosscut/Elway Poll had the initiative up 25 points, with 59 percent of the 405 registered voters polled saying they would definitely or probably vote to approve the law.
Meanwhile, 34 percent opposed the initiative and 7 percent were undecided.
