LOGAN — Students at Utah State University are standing up against threats of violence that led to the cancellation of a visit by feminist Anita Sarkeesian.

Sarkeesian said she cancelled because police couldn't screen for guns due to Utah's open carry law.

The threatening email sent to USU late Monday night promised a shooting massacre if she spoke Wednesday.

Wednsday night, Sarkeesian said the school "acted irresponsibly" on her Twitter account.

“USU acted irresponsibly. They did not even inform me of the threat. I learned about it via news stories on Twitter after I landed in Utah,” the tweet read.

USU spokesperson Tim Vitale responded to Sarkeesianin’s tweet. with surprise.

“I am just hearing about that tweet, and it is disturbing to hear, particularly that first line about us acting irresponsibly. It is not fair as well as being untrue," he said. "I have no idea how she found out about the threat, but I can say that as soon as we heard about the threat, we began a series of email exchanges with her personal assistant, who is the person we had being dealing with through the entire process of bringing her here. We had at least five emails between her personal assistant and our police captain Steve Milan about the threat with replies back and forth."

Vitale said that USU worked throughout the day to provide a safe environment for Sarkeesian, from the early morning until the evening.

"I am not doubting her, the part of her tweet that said she just heard about it when she first got off the plane. She turned her phone on and possibly saw something like that, but we spent a lot of time begining our efforts to provide a safe venue for her," Vitale said.

Students react to speech cancelation

On campus Wednesday, some students said while threats may have stopped the speech, it won't stop the message.

"We will not be silenced!” protestors shouted at a rally, which had a surprising turn out even for protest organizers.

"I’m overjoyed with the amount of support," said student Alexandra Johnson.

Ann Berghout Austin, the professor who helped book Anita Sarkeesian for the speech, was thrilled with the response as well.

"I’m so proud of our students. It's just wonderful to see their support," Austin said.

Austin also received one of the graphic emails detailing what would have happened if Sarkeesian had been allowed to speak Wednesday.

“I wasn't afraid, I was disgusted. I think it's a very very sad day for freedom of speech,” Austin said.

But she's also pleased dozens of students are making sure the message is still heard.

"These women and their bodies are sacrificed, in the name of infusing a mature theme,” Sarkeesian said in a YouTube video.

Sarkeesian is known for speaking out against negative portrayals of women in video games, and her work means something for people like Asher Puriri.

“So, my sign says 'I am Anita Sarkeesian. I am USU and I am not afraid,’ and it's kind of my personal statement that there is something much bigger going on here — something that can't be stopped. It's just very interesting to me how unequal that world is," Puriri said.

Puriri and those like her wanted to underscore that threats of violence won't stop the push for change.

Those threatening emails were consistent with threats Sarkeesian has received before other events. She usually does not cancel, and there hasn't been any violence so far.

Contributing: Lee Lonsberry

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