SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) — Administrators at UC Berkeley have reversed a previous decision to cancel the on-campus speaking event of conservative pundit Ann Coulter, but the groups that invited the best-selling author made it clear through their attorney late Thursday that a new date and place will not suffice.
Coulter had originally been scheduled to appear on April 27, but Berkeley administrators abruptly canceled her engagement on Wednesday, citing security concerns. After massive publicity, they reversed course but reset the event for May 2, when students will be taking finals and therefore will be less likely to attend, according to lawyers representing the Berkeley College Republicans and Young America’s Foundation.
Associate vice chancellor Nils Gilman “grudgingly offered to allow the event from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, May 2 — during ‘dead-week,’ when students are not even in class,” wrote Harmeet Dhillon, a chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, in a letter to Berkeley interim vice chancellor of student affairs Stephen Sutton.
Berkeley administrators originally said the university canceled on Coulter due to the possibility of riots, citing the rioting that caused them to cancel a speech by Milo Yiannopoulos a few months earlier. But Dhillon noted that the university has a habit of shutting out Conservative speakers, including David Horowitz earlier this month.
“Berkeley impermissibly has allowed a ‘heckler’s veto’ to suppress the free-speech rights of speakers properly invited by recognized student groups,” she wrote. “It is ironic that UC Berkeley, known to many Americans as the birthplace of the free-speech movement, is now leading the vanguard to silence Conservative speech on campus.”
Coulter has pledged to show up to speak on April 27, regardless of whether university officials revoke her invitation or not.
“They can’t stop me. I’m an American. I have constitutional rights,” Coulter told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.
And on Thursday, after administrators reversed their decision but changed the date and venue, Coulter tweeted: “GOOD NEWS FOR CA TAXPAYER! You won’t be requird to pay $$$$ to compensate me & my crew for rebooked airfare & hotels. I’m speaking on 4/27.”
Read the full letter below:
If the above link doesn’t work, you read the entire letter here.
