| As Breitbart Writer Prepares to Speak, Berkeley Utterly Erupts |
| Thursday, 02 February 2017 10:02 |
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Excerpt: "President Trump raised the threat of pulling federal funds from the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday after the institution canceled a talk by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and put the campus on lockdown after intense protests against the planned speech."
As Breitbart Writer Prepares to Speak, Berkeley Utterly Erupts02 February 17
While Trump framed his early morning tweet around free speech and opposition to violent demonstrations, his critics are likely to interpret the message as indirect support for Yiannopoulos, a polarizing figure who portrays himself as a champion of open expression. His detractors view him as a hatemonger. “If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view — NO FEDERAL FUNDS?” wrote Trump.
Yiannopoulos writes for the Breitbart website, whose founder, Stephen K. Bannon, is a key Trump adviser. Yiannopoulos has a large following as a self-proclaimed “free-speech fundamentalist” crusading against political correctness. He was banned from Twitter this summer after sending tweets targeting African American actress Leslie Jones. Some schools have canceled or indefinitely postponed his appearances because they often generate such intense responses. That leads some to argue that his speech is being censored. Others counter that universities aren’t required to pay security and other expenses when students invite speakers. “The event has been canceled,” the 32-year-old Yiannopoulos posted on his Facebook page. “I’ll let you know more when the facts become clear. One thing we do know for sure: the Left is absolutely terrified of free speech and will do literally anything to shut it down.” He did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday night. With free speech an exceptionally volatile issue on campuses across the country — with debate over code words, safe spaces, implicit bias, microagressions and free-speech — his events have become flash points. The Daily Californian, the student newspaper at Berkeley, reported that protesters were chanting, “No Milo, no Trump, no fascist USA,” setting off fireworks, throwing rocks and bricks and pounding on windows. They reported that university police later used rubber bullets and tear gas in an attempt to calm the crowd. “Amid violence, destruction of property and out of concern for public safety, the University of California Police Department determined that it was necessary to remove Milo Yiannopoulos from the campus and to cancel tonight’s scheduled 8 p.m. performance,” the university announced Wednesday night. The decision was made about two hours before the event, to a crowd of more than 1,500 protesters gathered outside the venue. Berkeley said it went to “extraordinary lengths” to plan for the event, working with the Berkeley College Republicans and adding crowd-control measures and dozens of additional police officers. But security officials claim about 150 “masked agitators” joined the demonstration, setting fires, throwing molotov cocktails and rocks and attacking some members of the crowd. Officers from the city of Oakland and Alameda County arrived at 7:45 p.m. to help the university and Berkeley city police. There were no immediate reports of arrests or serious injuries. The “shelter in place” order was lifted about 10 p.m., although campus police warned that protests continued in the surrounding community and advised people to avoid neighboring streets. Campus officials said in a statement “they regret that the threats and unlawful actions of a few have interfered with the exercise of First Amendment rights on a campus that is proud of its history and legacy as the home of the Free Speech Movement.” “Black bloc” protesters wear masks and black clothing to present a unified front as they disrupt events, making it difficult for police to recognize individuals in the group. They are often seen at demonstrations organized by groups such as Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street, destroying property and setting fires. They torched a limousine in Washington earlier this month on the day of Trump’s inauguration, and a group spray-painted buildings and smashed electrical boxes during a demonstration in Portland, Ore., earlier this month. When a group of them arrived at Berkeley, it swiftly changed the tenor of the peaceful demonstration. Some at Berkeley were worried that Yiannopoulos was using the event to begin a campaign against “sanctuary campuses” and that individual students would be identified and targeted as examples of illegal immigration. A story on Breitbart on Tuesday announced, “MILO and the David Horowitz Freedom Center have teamed up to take down the growing phenomenon of ‘sanctuary campuses’ that shelter illegal immigrants from being deported. MILO will kick start the campaign with a speech at the University of California’s Berkeley campus on February 1, where he, backed by the Freedom Center, will call for the withdrawal of federal grants and the prosecution of university officials who endanger their students with their policies.” More than 100 faculty members signed two letters to Chancellor Nicholas Dirks, the first of which argued, “Although we object strenuously to Yiannopoulos’s views — he advocates white supremacy, transphobia and misogyny — it is rather his harmful conduct to which we call attention in asking for the cancellation of this event.” They said Yiannopoulos “has labeled Black Lives Matter a form of ‘black supremacism’ and argues that the protest movement should be labeled a ‘terrorist organization'; he refers to principles of diversity at college campuses as ‘anti-White racism.’ He has also denounced rape culture as a myth propagated by feminists ‘aimed squarely at undermining masculinity.'” They wrote that he sometimes singles out people on campus, as at an event in Milwaukee when he projected an image of a transgender student on screen. “Yiannopoulos’s views pass from protected free speech to incitement, harassment, and defamation once they publically target individuals in his audience or on campus, creating conditions for concrete harm and actually harming students through defamatory and harassing actions. Such actions are protected neither by free speech nor by academic freedom.” Nils Gilman, associate chancellor and chief of staff to Dirks, responded that while the administration knew and was sorry that some speakers would upset some on campus, “Our Constitution does not permit the university to engage in prior restraint of a speaker out of fear that he might engage in even hateful verbal attacks.” That debate — forms of which are playing out on many campuses across the country — has particular resonance at Berkeley, where the Free Speech Movement began in 1964. Some members of that original movement wrote an op-ed in the Daily Californian defending his right to speak:
The Berkeley College Republicans, who sponsored the sold-out event, posted on Facebook Wednesday night, “The Free Speech Movement is dead. Today, the Berkeley College Republicans’ constitutional right to free speech was silenced by criminals and thugs seeking to cancel Milo Yiannopoulos’ tour. Their success is a defeat for civilized society and the free exchange of ideas on college campuses across America. We would like to thank UCPD and the university administration for doing all they could to ensure the safety of everyone involved. It is tragic that the birthplace of the Free Speech Movement is also its final resting place.”
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resident Trump raised the threat of pulling federal funds from the University of California at Berkeley on Thursday after the institution canceled a talk by provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and put the campus on lockdown after intense protests against the planned speech.