Campbell University under fire for hosting speaker who says Trump is a white supremacist

A black writer coming to Campbell University on Sept. 26 to talk about racism on college campuses has said President Donald Trump is a white supremacist, and the school is being criticized for hosting him.

California-based Lawrence Ross, author of “The Divine Nine: The History of African American Fraternities and Sororities,” and “Blackballed: The Black & White Politics of Race on America’s Campuses,” is scheduled to speak at Campbell as part of “Risky Business Week.”

On Sept. 13, Ross tweeted, “Whether or not Donald Trump is a white supremacist is settled law. He is,” launching a protracted exchange with people who agreed or disagreed.

On Wednesday, Ryan Fournier, who was a sophomore at Campbell when he started Students for Trump in October 2015, responded to Ross through Twitter, “Whether or not you are a race-baiter is settled law. You are.”

Ross’ tweet was a reference to a Twitter firestorm that started two days earlier when an ESPN program co-host, Jemele Hill, called the president a white supremacist. A White House spokeswoman suggested Hill’s Twitter remarks were grounds for ESPN to fire her. The network said publicly that it had talked with Hill about her comments.

In a tweet in March, Ross had used similar language to describe the president.

“Donald Trump is a pathological liar who as a white supremacist will not apologize for being a racist,” he said then.

Ross’ more recent comments came to the attention of the wider Campbell University community after Hannah Clark, president of student-led Campbell’s Greek Programming Board, sent an email to remind the 300 or so members of the school’s eight fraternities and sororities of the upcoming “Ricky Business Week” events. Those include Ross’ speech on Sept. 26 and an anti-hazing movie to be shown on Sept. 28.

The email was shared with others off campus.

Of Ross’ lecture, Clark’s email said, “This is mandatory – only excuses being family emergencies and class.”

Copies of the email are circulating on social media and some websites, including republicbuzz.com, under the headline, “Students at Campbell University FORCED to listen to BLACK man who calls Trump White Supremacist!”

Haven Hottel, assistant vice president for communications and marketing at the private, Baptist-affiliated school near Lillington, said the student group had selected Ross as a speaker.

While all students are invited to attend the lecture, Hottel said, only those who are members of campus Greek organizations are required to attend, as they are for all events scheduled by the Greek Life Programming Board, Hottel said.

Hottel released a statement Thursday from Dennis Bazemore, Campbell’s vice president for student life.

“This lecture is one part of a key programming event we hold every year that addresses topics of concern for our campus,” Bazemore said. “While all active participating members of our campus Greek system are required to attend scheduled programming events, we do welcome participation from other members of our campus community. We hope these events encourage dialogue and cooperation among our student body here at Campbell.

Fournier, now a junior political science major at Campbell, said he had shared Clark’s email with media outlets because he objects to any students being required to attend Ross’ lecture.

Fournier said he supports freedom of speech on campus, but said, "This event could be seen differently than other events in the past. There has never been a radical speaker such as Lawrence Ross to come to the university to speak on a subject as sensitive as this."

Fournier plans to attend the event — he said he wants to hear how Ross responds to the social media criticism, among other things — but that students who don’t want to come shouldn’t have to.

"Some of the things he was saying on Twitter could be seen as very offensive to people who supported President Trump," he said.

Fournier said he had from from 10 or 12 classmates who don’t want to hear the lecture, but are afraid to speak out.

"It should be optional because of that," he said.

Ross’ website says he has degrees in history and screenwriting from UCLA and that he has lectured at more than 600 colleges and universities in the past 17 years.

Reached by phone in California Thursday, Ross said he welcomed the discussion and an opportunity to speak at the campus.

“I went to Berkeley,” he said. “We protested Tuesday for not being Thursday.

“I am completely fine with this. I actually like college students who have a point of view.”

The point of his lectures about racism, he said, is to help students – especially white students who think that racism no longer exists or is a minor issue – to consider a different point of view.

“They have been taught to see racism as being one event by this one person who may or may not have been bad, who made a mistake, and it’s not connected to anything else,” he said. “And if you’re that myopic, you think of it as not being that big of a problem.”

Ross said he tries to give students a broader perspective.

So far, he said, he still plans to speak at Campbell on Tuesday.

“I’ll be there, front and center,” he said.

This story was originally published September 21, 2017 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Campbell University under fire for hosting speaker who says Trump is a white supremacist."