Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) said Wednesday that, while white supremacist hate speech is wrong, it also shouldn't be pushed into the dark corners of the world.
Speaker Vos -- lead author of the campus free speech bill that passed the State Assembly in June -- made those comments in response to a question from 27 News about whether he would support a speech by white supremacist leader Richard Spencer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
On Wednesday, The University of Florida denied a request to have Spencer speak there on Sept. 12, 2017, making it the latest in a long line of schools that have refused to host him.
Under Assembly Bill 299, no UW System school would be allowed to deny someone from speaking on campus about a public policy issue - no matter how controversial.
Speaker Vos said he didn't know who Spencer was, but that it is important to let those with hateful ideas to speak and then hold them to account.
Under AB 299, people would be allowed to protest any campus speaker, but that "protests and demonstrations that interfere with the expressive rights of others are subject to sanction."