Karen Pence brings controversy to Florida State with art therapy speech

Second Lady Karen Pence unexpectedly decided to make a stop at Florida State University, where she spoke to an invite-only group of people in the Williams Johnston Building on Landis before traveling to a local treatment facility for eating disorders that is unaffiliated with FSU.

President Thrasher and his wife, Jean, were some of the members in attendance for this private speech which focused on art therapy initiatives. Florida State University is currently one of only five programs in the country to offer a doctoral program in art therapy, and Mrs. Pence expressed her desire to implement the use of this approach worldwide.

Reception on campus

Mrs. Pence's appearance was not without criticism however, and many chose to focus and many chose to focus on the family’s support of conversion therapy in the past, highlighted by Mike Pence’s 2000 Congressional campaign page that stated "Resources should be directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to those seeking to change their sexual behavior."

Mrs. Pence also attended the 2017 anniversary event for the “Focus on Family” group, which actively lobbies against banning conversion therapy.

Phrases such as "Better art therapy than conversion therapy" were painted on the sidewalks prior to her attendance, and protest initiatives could be found on most class pages on Facebook.

Much of the criticism was due to the fact that Karen Pence was choosing to speak at another Florida university just one day before white nationalist Richard Spencer is set to give a much-contested speech at the University of Florida.

A group of protestors even chose to utilize the recent controversy surrounding VP Mike Pence's staged exit out of the Indiana Colts game earlier this month, to which she also was in attendance for, and chose to kneel in her presence with flags representative of the LGBTQ+ communities.

Next to these protestors was a group of supporters proudly displaying their Trump/Pence campaign signs, who periodically clapped while in attendance of the demonstrators.

Nicholas Bique, Vice Chair of the FSU College Republicans had this to say about his decision to support Karen Pence's appearance:

It's a huge honor that the second lady is on our campus, and supporting our arts therapy program. I think it's a huge step for this administration to support art education and in supporting this university. Out of all the colleges that do a phenomenal job she felt that FSU was exceptional, so we're here to represent the students that feel that the Trump and Pence administration represents them.

The Vice Chair also readily pointed out that both parties were peacefully assembling, and that the supporters "haven't yelled at [the protestors] or thrown any derogatory comments."

When asked if he was aware what the other reason for the second lady's visit to Tallahassee was, he admitted he had not known. Following this question when asked about the timing in relation to Richard Spencer, Bique denounced the white nationalist's agenda on a personal level and as a party. He believes people who are critical of the timing of Mrs. Pence's speech would be "ill-advised to correlate the two as it makes no sense."

When shifting towards the kneeling protestors, a very different outlook on the situation was presented.

Cynthia Colas, Chair of the FSU National Organization for Women provided her outlook:

I think it's no coincidence Karen Pence is speaking at FSU the day before Richard Spencer is set to speak at UF. We are not supportive of UF reversing its decision about Spencer, and we are greatly upset that President Fuchs is not respecting the wishes of his students. We don't believe that Karen Pence has any right to speak on therapy initiatives at our university when her and her husband have publicly supported conversion therapy, and she does not represent therapy that is accepting of all students, or LGBT people.

Upon asking if she believed this art therapy initiative was intrinsically tied with the values that she holds that allow her to believe conversion therapy is acceptable, Colas agreed, and believes this is another outlet for Pence to impose those beliefs.

Cynthia ended by chastising any organization that decides to hold Mrs. Pence, citing that to stand with her is to push away the LGBT community at large. She also believes that this appearance is an indirect support of Spencer from the White House, and all of what he is set to discuss tomorrow at UF.

Dean of Students, Vicki Dobiyanski, was also in attendance of the protest, speaking with students on both sides and reminding them to heed the orders of the Secret Service officers and local authorities in order to continue to demonstrate peacefully.

When asked if she felt that this appearance was a direct correlation to Richard Spencer, she said that she didn't know the answer to that but was ready to support the student's right to free speech.

Whatever the reason for this whirlwind of a visit, it is surely tame in comparison to the upcoming Spencer speech, which has already garnered a state of emergency order from Gov. Scott, and the mobilization of the National Guard in Alachua county.

All we can hope for is another day of peaceful protest, and for the administration to denounce the actions of those who will inevitably preach hatred.