COLUMBIA – A social media message circulating among University of South Carolina alumni is criticizing the state’s largest university system for allowing a student event to feature two controversial far-right political provocateurs, including the founder of the Proud Boys.

A spokesman for the university then stated that the approval of the event was a question of freedom of expression.

The September event, sponsored by the USC chapter of Uncensored America, bills itself as a “roast” of Vice President Kamala Harris, with “roastmasters” Milo Yiannopoulos and Gavin McInnes. The event’s title uses a rough spelling of the Democratic presidential candidate’s name, which the SC Daily Gazette intentionally does not repeat.

Yiannopoulos, a British writer who describes himself as a “fabulous supervillain” who has been criticized for his Islamophobic, misogynistic and transphobic views, is a former editor at Breitbart News, the alt-right news platform co-founded by former President Donald Trump’s strategist Steve Bannon – a job he left in 2017 – and a former chief of staff at Kanye West’s Yeezy fashion brand.

McInnes – who was born in London, grew up in Canada and lives in New York – is the founder of the Proud Boys. The Anti-Defamation League calls the self-described “Western chauvinist” group a “right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda,” while the FBI describes it as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.”

McInnes announced in 2018 that he would be leaving the group, although he remains associated with it.

“Allowing this event on campus is nothing less than USC promoting white nationalism,” the social media message said.

The message urged former USC students to “flood the alumni office and event coordinator with messages.”

USC spokesman Jeff Stensland said the university has a long history of allowing recognized student groups to invite speakers and hold events of their choosing. As a public institution, the university tries to protect people’s individual, constitutional right to free speech, he said.

Stensland said that USC does not endorse speakers and that events hosted at the university do not reflect the university’s views.

The event is not listed on the university’s website of upcoming events at the Russell House student centre, where it takes place.

Among the critics is former state Rep. Bakari Sellers, a USC law graduate and CNN political commentator, who called his alma mater’s statement lame.

“I expect accountability on this matter as soon as possible,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

This is not the first time that a Yiannopoulos event on a university campus has sparked controversy.

When he was invited to give a speech at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2017 by the student group College Republicans, about 1,500 people showed up to protest the event.

That protest turned violent, with people tearing down police barricades, throwing Molotov cocktails, smashing windows and throwing fireworks and rocks, CNN reported.

The USC student group Uncensored America describes itself as a free speech organization. Last year, it also welcomed right-wing commentator and self-proclaimed “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer to campus, drawing criticism.