Hundreds gathered at Western Kentucky University to protest against Speaker The WQ chapter of Turning Point USA hosted Kyle Rittenhouse last night.

Rittenhouse, you may recall, was acquitted for shooting and killing two men during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2020.

Our Laura Rogers has more from Bowling Green.

No Justice, no protests erupting in response to Kyle Rittenhouse, presenting what's billed as the Rittenhouse recap at WQ.

I think the biggest thing for me is his rhetoric and just his speech in general attracts a crowd that shouldn't be here on campus.

There's a very.

Loud majority that is saying we're not comfortable with this regardless of political affiliation.

I was scared.

I was terrified.

Now, 21 Rittenhouse was 17 when he shot and killed two people and wounded another during a Black Lives Matter protest.

You're going to be able to protect yourself in that certain way.

He has since become a hero for some supporters of the Second Amendment.

I just want to support Kyle.

What he did was justified.

I feel that it was completely justified and there's a lot of misinformation surrounding it.

And I want to stand up for my Second Amendment rights.

And I think Kyle prevented people from burning down his city.

But a different perspective from those who feel Rittenhouse has contributed and been complicit to systemic racism.

He's backed by a lot of white supremacist groups.

He's somebody who has been openly backed by the Ku Klux Klan and the Proud Boys and has been shown to do white nationalist hand symbols.

During his address, Rittenhouse gave his account of what happened during those deadly shootings back in 2020 and expressed staunch support for campus carry and carry.

Here students.

Every year.

So violation of our rights.

That's why I love this country, because we all have different backgrounds, different beliefs, and that's a beautiful thing.

The WQ chapter president of Turning Point USA says headquarters reached out to them to gauge interest in hosting right now.

So I thought about it for a couple of days.

And because America everybody deserves a platform is free speech.

If you want to talk, come on, talk.

We can start a conversation, maybe get some views from from the left and from the right and see where it goes.

Five.

But protesters say Rittenhouse has message goes too far.

People that pose direct threats to our life and our safety, we just don't want that here on campus.

We have the right to be able to carry a firearm.

The program did proceed as planned with heavy police and security presence.

We all see the precautions that the school is taking to protect the students here.

However, they aren't able to actually say that he poses a danger to US students.

WQ President Timothy Carbone did issue a lengthy statement prior to the event, saying in part, As guardians of free speech, universities have an obligation to establish an environment where a wide range of perspectives are exchanged, even if the idea is presented different from our own.

Offensive or even contemptible.

Furthermore, as a public university, WQ is compelled by law to do so.

Carbonates, citing the Campus Free Speech Protection Act signed into law in 2019.

I'm keeping an open mind.

I'm really just here to see what he has to say.

People talk online all the time, but that gets us nowhere.

Absolutely nowhere.

It's good to be able to have those conversations in person and, you know, show your views and listen to people.

And that's that's a big as far as a lot of people like to talk with.

Now, many people like to.

Listen to keeping up with the chants, keep up the energy.

And there's a lot of ways to be heard, right?

The protests were also an opportunity to encourage civic engagement.

It was encouraging people to vote.

That was the first thing I said when I was speaking, is that y'all need to engage in your civic duty.

That is how we're heard on a larger scale.

Following the program, protests continued into the evening outside the Downing Student Union.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Laura Rogers.

Thank you, Laura.

Last night's protests remained peaceful.

Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all charges, claiming self-defense.