UC Berkeley braces for showdown over speaker
Just a few months after the cancellation of a talk by conservative commentator Ann Coulter amid security concerns, UC Berkeley is gearing up to deal with another controversial speaker’s visit to the famously left-leaning campus.
The conservative Young America’s Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans this week announced that they have invited conservative columnist Ben Shapiro to speak on campus Sept. 14 at 7 p.m.
“I look forward to speaking to students of all viewpoints at Berkeley,” Shapiro said in a statement. “I expect that the administration will not hide behind the heckler’s veto of despicable groups like Antifa to prevent this event from moving forward. The home of the Free Speech Movement has an obligation to protect free speech.”
Shapiro, a UCLA graduate and former Breitbart editor who in 2004 published a book called “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” has spoken at a number of college campuses, including Berkeley, without much fuss. But Cal in recent months has seen violent clashes, with both left-wing and right-wing protesters and activists from across the country leveraging planned speeches by conservative speakers to debate broader political and free speech issues.
Carol Christ began her tenure as Cal’s chancellor on July 1. So the school’s handling of the Shapiro speech will be one of her first tests as leader of a university that has become a flashpoint.
In April, Berkeley College Republicans blamed the school for canceling the Coulter event and argued that the university violated the group’s right to free speech. But school officials said the group had not worked with the university in advance to identify a date when a suitable venue would be available.
Earlier this year, the campus turned violent when former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos arrived to speak and protesters, many of them apparently unaffiliated with the school, broke windows and threw rocks at police. The school canceled the speech amid security concerns, drawing a tweet from President Donald Trump that appeared to threaten the loss of federal funding. But many students on campus said the cancellation was a good idea because they felt unsafe amid the chaos.
Those same dynamics appear to be shaping up again surrounding Shapiro’s speech.
Naweed Tahmas, external vice president of Berkeley College Republicans, said in an email: “As it stands, UC Berkeley has solidified itself as a center for intellectual dishonesty, as only favored viewpoints may be heard on campus, with no meaningful opposition or challenge permitted due to the imposition of unlawful time, place and manner restrictions on conservative speech on campus.”
Dan Mogulof, a spokesman for UC Berkeley, said in a statement: “We want to state unequivocally that Mr. Shapiro is welcome on the Berkeley campus and that we will work with the student organization to ensure they can host a safe and successful event.”
Mogulof said the student group informed the school on Monday it had invited Shapiro for the 14th and requested a venue that can accommodate 500 attendees. Whether the school can meet that request will depend on the availability of a venue and the recommendations of law enforcement, he added.
“We will do everything in our power to ensure that Mr. Shapiro, his hosts and their guests can safely and successfully exercise their First Amendment rights,” Mogulof said. “That commitment can be fulfilled only when events are held at a time and location that allow for the provision of any required security measures.”
In April, then-Chancellor Nicholas Dirks —who resigned amid criticism of his handling of campus sexual assault cases and the school’s budget woes — penned a letter to the campus community that read: “(We) cannot ignore or deny what is a new reality. Groups and individuals from the extreme ends of the political spectrum have made clear their readiness and intention to utilize violent tactics in support or in protest of certain speakers at UC Berkeley. … We cannot wish away or pretend that these threats do not exist.”