On the Berkeley campus, opposition to Ann Coulter’s appearance adds to a growing impression that conservative opinions are not welcome at numerous nation’s public universities.
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“I’m not sure if I will do it in the daytime or do it when normal speakers – i.e. corrupt Latin American rulers like Vicente Fox – are allowed to speak, but I am definitely speaking next Thursday at Berkeley”. “I have constitutional rights”.
Officials at the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday reversed their decision to cancel a speech by conservative firebrand Ann Coulter.
Further details about the decision reversal were not immediately available.
We have been unable to find a safe and suitable venue for your planned April 27 event featuring Ann Coulter.
News organizations obtained a copy of the letter Wednesday.
“Why she sees those as demands we’re uncertain, because they were simply the recommendations we received from our police department about what would be required to protect her and, most importantly, to maximise the chances that the event could be held successfully and safely”.
Good on Ann! Earlier the UC-Berkeley administration canceled a planned February 1 speech by conservative activist Milo Yiannopoulos after a violent campus riot by leftists that local police seemed to do little to stop.
The administration had canceled Coulter’s talk due to “security threats”.
Officials learned of Coulter’s event, the letter said, from reading about it in newspapers. The school then cancelled her speech, and suggested rescheduling it for September.
Black-clad protesters set fires and smashed windows as they shut down Yiannopoulos’ lecture at Berkeley in February. In a free society, people are allowed to hear all views and make their own decisions, even while knowing such a system will force them to endure commentary that angers or offends them.
Campus administrators said registered student groups have the right to invite speakers to address their groups but school officials must still provide safety and security during the events.
Coulter’s speech was to be about illegal immigration, a topic near and dear to heart and one that she covered extensively in her 2015 book Adios America, which had six chapters dedicated to the subjects of immigrants and rape.
Coulter said Berkeley gave her a long list of conditions before initially approving her speech, and she agreed to them. YAF’s statement to press reads: “The university, and U-C chancellor Janet Napolitano personally, have revealed themselves to be using taxpayer money for an unconstitutional goal”. Coulter’s speech would be delivered in the afternoon, was to be attended only by students, and the location would not be announced until just before the event started.
Group members have stressed that they have “no intention of acceding to these unconstitutional acts”.
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Prior to the new invitation, Coulter had made mention that she fully meant to move forward and host her speech, in the face of the rescinded first invitation.
