CLEVELAND — Kyle Rittenhouse, a conservative pro-gun activist, is set to speak at Kent State University in April.

What You Need To Know

  • Kyle Rittenhouse, a controversial conservative, pro-gun activist is scheduled to speak at Kent State on April 16th

  • A petition urging officials to reconsider Rittenhouse coming to campus has gained thousands of signatures

  • A conservative student group invited Rittenhouse to speak 

Brady Seymour, the president of Turning Point USA, Kent State chapter, said his organization invited the controversial figure to speak on the campus.

Rittenhouse shot three people with an AR-style weapon during a 2020 protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two of them. Rittenhouse testified he acted in self defense and was acquitted of all charges.

It was a polarizing moment, with one side of the political spectrum seeing him as a vigilante and the other as a patriot.

“We want to give him the opportunity to tell his story about the trial and everything he went through in 2020,” Seymour said. “I think he has a really impactful story for himself. A lot of times as conservatives, it feels like you are the odd one out, and he was hated on by the country—and still is frankly—for the last four years.”

Many members of the community oppose having Rittenhouse on the campus where four student protesters were killed and nine others wounded when the National Guard opened fire on Vietnam war protesters in May of 1970.

Kent State student Ally Greco said, when heard about Turning Point’s plans to have Rittenhouse on campus, she felt compelled to speak out against it. 

“So I first saw the post on Turning Point USA’s Instagram, and then from there, I decided to make a Change.org petition,” Greco said. “I have seen those work out really well previously with other petitions, so I decided to make mine. I was in my car and decided to do it on a whim's notice.” 

The petition urges the conservative student group and the university to reconsider their decision to host Rittenhouse. 

In a matter of days, this petition acquired thousands of electronic signatures. 

Greco said the similarities between May 4 and the Rittenhouse situation hit too close to home for the Kent community. She added that some are already planning to protest the controversial conservative on the day of the visit. 

“I know that this is definitely hurtful, especially to victims that have been victims of gun violence, and that it is kind of a slap in the face, especially to the May 4th memorial and the people who have been hurt by that,” she said. “I just definitely want this to be a learning curve and possibly change something for sure, to make people feel more comfortable on campus, more safe on campus.” 

Seymour said he does not see inviting Rittenhouse to the campus as disrespectful. 

“The way I look at it is they are trying to draw a parallel to anything that they could to play a victim to get this cancelled,” he said. “I think it is very disrespectful to the victims to actually do that, use their lives as something that it shouldn’t be.” 

The university released a statement that said, in part: “freedom of speech laws clearly protect the rights of speakers to speak on public university campuses.”