The University of Florida is being asked to pay more than $300,000 to Alachua County in order to cover expenses associated with white nationalist Richard Spencer’s recent campus visit.
Alachua County sent the school an invoice Wednesday for $302,184 encompassing costs related exclusively to Mr. Spencer’s appearance at the university on Oct. 19, his first scheduled speaking engagement since participating in the deadly “Unite the Right” protest two months earlier in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Hundreds of law enforcement personnel descended on the UF campus anticipating potentially violent protests, and Alachua County said it expects the school to foot the bill.
“In the aftermath of the Richard Spencer private event, we are seeking reimbursement for the public safety resources requested by the University and provided by Alachua County,” wrote Lee Pinkoson, the chairman of the Board of County Commissioners.
“This is a simple matter of submitting a request to get reimbursed like we do when we provide fire rescue staff for at a football game or any other time that the university requests resources that taxpayer dollars pay for,” explained county spokesman Mark Sexton, WCJB reported.
The invoice lists costs including $260,494 for law enforcement, $19,518 for fire rescue services and $6,343 toward court security and jail services, among other expenses related to Mr. Spencer’s appearance.
“As a result of this decision that UF made to allow this event, we responded,” Mr. Sexton said, “and now we’re simply submitting an invoice to get reimbursed for the services we were asked to provide, which we provided.”
The university did not immediately comment on the county’s request.
Mr. Spencer, 39, has served as the president and director of the National Policy Institute, a white nationalist think-tank, since 2011. He’s considered as a leading figure within the so-called “alt-right” movement and had been scheduled to speak at the “Unite the Right” demonstration on Aug. 12, 2017, but his address was canceled when clashes broke out between counterprotesters and participants, including neo-Nazis and fellow white nationalists.
Authorities subsequently declared a state of emergency, and police later linked the chaos to the deaths of three people, including a counterprotester and two police officers.
The University of Florida initially refused to host an event featuring Mr. Spencer following the violence in Charlottesville, but the school conceded after being threatened with litigation and agreed to accommodate his first public speaking engagement since “Unite the Right” on Oct. 19.
University officials previously said they planned to spend upwards of $600,000 on security costs related to Mr. Spencer’s appearance, but administrators have failed so far to release any figures concerning the actual expenses incurred.
Alachua County has already reimbursed the local sheriff’s office approximately $260,000 for its services during Mr. Spencer’s visit, The Gainesville Sun reported.
More than 2,500 demonstrators protested Mr. Spencer’s campus visit, Jacksonville’s WJXT reported. Police made a total of five arrests connected to his appearance, but authorities otherwise described the event as “mostly peaceful.”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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