White nationalists and protesters stood apart geographically and ideologically at the University of Tennessee Saturday afternoon. Matthew Heimbach, who chairs a group called the Traditionalist Workers’ Party, kicked off what he said would be a four-state college lecture tour called “National Socialism or Death.”
The TWP believes multiculturalism to be an existential threat to the United States, and in particular sees universities as bastions of views, such as cultural and racial diversity, that TWP finds objectionable.
Around lunchtime, a crowd estimated at more than 100 people gathered on the university’s Humanities Plaza to counter Heimbach’s message.
Starting from the amphitheater at the plaza, the protesters moved in an irregular path north, then east across campus. They chanted, waved ANTIFA and Black Lives Matter flags, and lifted signs that read “Hate Has No Home at UT,” “I Thought We Settled This in 1945,” and, in pure East Tennessee fashion, “Football, Not Facism.”
Instead of entering the designated protest area in front of Ayres Hall, most of the protesters gathered and moved up the steps of Hoskins Library, just across Cumberland Avenue. Knoxville police officers clad in protective gear waited on the Ayres side of Cumberland, watching the crowd and directing traffic. Around 12:55, eight Tennessee Highway Patrol officers came down from the Ayres Hall protest area and gathered along the sidewalk in front of Hoskins. Protesters began shouting, “This is our campus!”
Inside Buehler Hall, Heimbach spoke, flanked by black-clad assistants. A flag draped in front of his table read “WHITE PRIDE NATIONWIDE.”
An estimated thirty people listened as he spoke. The lecture room can hold 200.
Not all the protesters were UT students, faculty or staff. Fifteen-year-old Tori Sharp came.
“I believe in equality, and I don’t think we have enough of it,” the William Blount High School ROTC student said. “It’s sad that I have to go to school and be afraid.”
Toni Sharp echoed her granddaughter’s concern about school safety, referencing Wednesday’s shooting at a south Florida high school.
“Hate is what creates the environment for things like this,” she said. She added that “outside agitators” have no place in East Tennessee. Heimbach is based in Indianapolis.
Asked how long they’d brave the weather, Toni Sharp said, “We went to the Women's March, and it rained there. And we've been to the ones since then. Rain is nothing to us.”
Curious onlookers unattached to either group came to watch the protest as live entertainment. Three young men stood for a while on the Ayres side, watching the protesters and occasionally snapping a photo on their phones.
“Wait,” one said. “Does this mean we’re on the Nazi side?”
His friends chuckled.
“We better go over there,” he said, indicating Hoskins Library. The trio crossed the street, and kept watching.
This story will be updated as events warrant.
UPDATE, 3:25 p.m. ET: Matthew Heimbach's remarks concluded a short while ago. Around 2:00 p.m. some protesters re-convened at a parking garage on the north side of UT's campus, intending to confront members of the Traditionalist Workers' Party. They were not successful, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The University of Tennessee plans a wrap-up press conference around 4:30 p.m.
UPDATE, 4:45 p.m. ET: University of Tennessee Chancellor Beverly Davenport said she was proud of the university community, in brief remarks to reporters at the conclusion of today's event.
"Our work didn't begin today, and it won't end today," Davenport said. "Racism is something we talk about, it's something we study."
Asked why the TWP was allowed on campus to begin with, Davenport reiterated statements from earlier in the week: that the First Amendment protects speech, even when unpopular; and that university policy allows groups and the public certain use of campus buildings.
Six protesters were detained for blocking traffic, UT Police Chief Troy Lane said. All were ticketed. No one was arrested. Lane said officers from five university, city, county and state law enforcement agencies were present, totaling 200 police. Hardly any protesters used the designated area in front of Ayres Hall; Lane said 30 to 40 people went through the security checkpoint to enter that zone.
Some in the protest crowd jeered police during the demonstration. Lane said he expects some level of hostility about any time officers have a high profile at an event.
"Everyone who works for me was there today," he said, adding a few additional officers will continue to work this evening. Normal UTPD operations are expected to resume tomorrow.
Davenport noted the white nationalists and the protesters did not turn to violence, and said she felt nonviolence was the "most effective form of protest."
Lane estimated 45 people attended Heimbach's talk. About 250 people protested it.