Students protest Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett's University of Minnesota visit
MINNEAPOLIS — There will be increased security around the University of Minnesota on Monday as the school gets ready to welcome a high-profile, yet controversial guest.
United States Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is visiting as a guest speaker.
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Nearly 700 students have signed a petition demanding the U rescind her invitation. Some students protested outside of Northrop Auditorium during the event which started at 4 p.m.
"I really want her to see that college students who are new to the voting scene, I'm 18, that we had an opinion on Roe v Wade that we don't think was listened to," freshman Reagan Rogers said.
The U's law school invited the justice to speak as part of the Robert A. Stein lecture series.
Justice Coney Barrett will not be the first to visit the University, as Supreme Court Justices Kagan, Sotomayor, Roberts, and Scalia have all come in the past.
Some students say her visit is different, however, because of her significant role in overturning Roe v. Wade, and most recently affirmative action.
"We also want our campus to demonstrate the commitment that they say they have to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion by not giving such a large platform to somebody who has such bigoted ideas," said Mira Altobell-Resendez, of Students for a Democratic Society.
William McGeveran, interim dean at the U's School of Law, says it's important to bring guests to campus with different views that challenge students, and it's also important that students can exercise their First Amendment rights to protest.
"We're a more polarized country, and that's reflected on college campuses like everywhere else. But the job of a college or university is to show us how we can nonetheless speak to one another and listen to one another effectively," McGeveran said.