Alt-Right Pundit Milo Yiannopoulos To Speak At NYU

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is set to speak to a New York University class taught by controversial anti-PC Professor Michael Rectenwald on Wednesday.

Yiannopoulos, a figure in alt-right media, is a former editor at Breitbart News where he penned stories such as "Gay Rights Have Made Us Dumber, It’s Time to Get Back in the Closet."

He was forced to resign his position after making comments that condoned pedophilia and has called for deportations of Muslims from Western countries, deemed rape culture "fake" and recently praised the mail bombs sent to prominent Democratic officials, among other contentious comments.

He is set to discuss the "identity politics of Halloween" to 14 students in Rectenwald's "Academic Writing, Real Work Topics" course, which will be live-streamed on the professor's YouTube channel.

Rectenwald, who is a Liberal Studies clinical professor, defended his invitation to Yiannopoulos, saying his appearance is not an "endorsement." He attempted to justify it by stressing that he has also invited socialists to speak at the class later in the semester.

"I want to have viewpoint diversity in the classroom. Listen, I don’t defend every utterance the guy has said. But I would say I have looked at a lot of his public speeches and his books and I think he has a very interesting perspective," Rectenwald told Patch.

"And I think we need to have speakers like him. At this juncture, people from that spectrum have no voice at this university."

Rectenwald felt Yiannopoulos' Halloween talk gives an ideal background to discuss "cultural appropriation, identity politics and the ideas of costumes.” The professor has reviewed Yiannopoulos' speech for the Halloween talk and has given it the green-light, he said.

In 2016, NYU's College Republicans invited Yiannopoulos to speak at the university, but school officials canceled the November event citing security concerns. The cancellation unleashed a wave of criticism from conservative, and some liberal, students at the school.

Rectenwald said backlash to Yiannopoulos visiting his class Wednesday caught him off guard.

"I did not anticipate this level of response at this point," he said.

He noted that NYU professors are not required to receive approval for guest speakers, but after a few faculty members expressed concern to Liberal Studies Dean Julie Mostov she has been in conversation with Rectenwald about his plans for the Halloween appearance.

A spokesman for NYU distanced the school from Yiannopoulous' views, but emphasized the university's commitment to the free exchange of ideas.

"Mr. Yiannopoulous has espoused many ideas that are at odds with the values of the NYU community and are offensive to its members," said John Beckman, a spokesman for the university.

"But as an invited speaker, he will be allowed to address Professor Rectenwald's class because even in the face of controversy and profound disagreement, adherence to the principles of academic freedom is a core value."

The university learned about Rectenwald's invitation to Yiannopoulos from press accounts.

At the moment, none of the students in Rectenwald's class have spoken out against the talk and he plans to discuss the controversial figure's visit during their Monday class, he said.

Some students and university groups have taken to social media to slam Yiannopoulos' appearance, using the #CancelMiloAtNYU hashtag.

The Graduate Student Organizing Committee at NYU spoke out against the talk on Twitter.

“Milo and his fascist, white supremacist speech — which has often included calls to violence — are dangerous for many of our students,” the post reads. “For educational workers, this is what a workplace safety struggle looks like. He has no place in any classroom.”

Milo Yiannopoulos speaks at an Alt-Right protest of Muslim activist Linda Sarsour on May 25, 2017 in New York City. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)