Cal halts planning for Coulter speech event

Attorney for group that invited her threatens suit, rejects other date

BERKELEY — An attorney for the UC Berkeley student group that invited conservative pundit Ann Coulter to speak on campus April 27 gave the university a 5 p.m. Friday ultimatum to provide the conservative celebrity a forum as originally scheduled, or face possible litigation.

But hours before the deadline, UC Berkeley’s counsel responded that the event sponsors had set the April 27 date without checking with the university and that planning for a Coulter event has been stopped because the sponsors have rejected an alternate date of May 2.

On Wednesday, the university had called off Coulter’s scheduled April 27 appearance because officials said they could not guarantee the safety of her or the people attending. University officials have cited several recent local events that resulted in violence: rallies by supporters and opponents of President Donald Trump in downtown Berkeley on March 4 and April 15, and a scheduled appearance by then-Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos at Cal on Feb. 1 that was cancelled after some masked, black-clad people smashed windows at the student union building and set fires outside.

On Thursday, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said in a statement that Coulter was invited instead to speak on the afternoon of May 2.

Coulter is the author of “In Trump We Trust” and about a dozen other books.

In a letter to UC Berkeley interim Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Stephen Sutton, dated Thursday, attorney Harmeet Dhillon characterized the university’s action as a denial of her clients’ First Amendment rights.

Dhillon, of San Franciscobased Dhillon Law Group Inc., represents event sponsor Berkeley College Republicans and supporter Young America’s Foundation.

“The university’s actions violate fundamental principles of free speech, equal protection and due process guaranteed by the United States Constitution, and will not be tolerated,” Dhillon wrote.

Earlier Thursday, at a conference at Haas Pavilion, UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the venue for a May 2 Coulter appearance would be “somewhere on campus property” and details would be announced once they were worked out with the Coulter organization and College Republicans.

Dhillon, in her letter, noted that on May 2, students will not be in class and will be studying for finals.

“If UC Berkeley continues to insist on violating the constitutional rights of its students and our clients by marginalizing or banning Ms. Coulter’s speech, we will seek relief in federal court, including claims for injunctive relief and damages,” Dhillon wrote, adding:

“You are on notice of potential imminent litigation.”