Posted on 02/01/2017 5:10:25 PM PST by nickcarraway
Protests are expected on Wednesday at the University of California at Berkeley where controversial Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos will be speaking.
More than 1,000 people have responded on Facebook that they intend to protest the sold-out event will be held at the Pauley Ballroom of the MLK Student Union at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. Many are expected to jeer him.
But on Wednesday morning, several students said Berkeley is the center of the Free Speech movement.
"I say bring him," Samonti Smith said. "Everyone has a free right to speak what's in their mind. This is Cal. That's what makes us so great."
Added Anastasia Pyrinis: "I know friends who are attending on both sides just to hear what he has to say. I think that's very important. One part of the culture here at Berkeley is to really understand all points of view. And I'm pretty conservative and for me, being on a liberal campus, that's an important aspect."
Last week, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks wrote a letter to the Cal community about Milo Yiannopoulos whom he called a "troll and provocateur who uses odious behavior in part to 'entertain,' but also to deflect any serious engagement with ideas."
But, despite protests from students, Dirks said Berkeley College Republicans have a right to invite Yiannopoulos to speak. He reiterated that the campus upholds the values of free speech, even when that speech is intolerant and divisive.
Yiannopoulos also complained on Facebook that UC Berkeley was requiring campus Republicans to pay a security fee for the event. But Dirks insisted that the university typically requires event organizers to pay for basic security — a sum that totals up to $10,000.
Berkeley College Republicans will not be responsible for the added costs of security for protests, which Dirks said the campus would pay. He noted that officials would “not stand idly by” while laws are violated, no matter who the perpetrators are.
Dirks' letter comes after a protester was shot and seriously wounded at the University of Washington Friday night, where Yiannopoulos was speaking.
Yiannopoulos is a leading figure in the "alt-right movement," a growing group of white nationalists who often espouse racist and misogynistic views. The Breitbart editor, who was permanently banned from Twitter for his role in a hate campaign directed at actress Leslie Jones, has been touring college campuses as part of his self-described “Dangerous F*ggot” tour. Yiannopoulos is openly gay.
"He has been widely and rightly condemned for engaging in hate speech directed at a wide range of groups and individuals, as well as for disparaging and ridiculing individual audience members, particularly members of the LGBTQ community," Dirks said.
Yiannopoulos's other recent campus appearances have led to tense protests, including a joint appearance with pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli at UC Davis, where protesters blocked the entrances and the event was canceled before the two took stage.
An event for Feb. 2 at UCLA was canceled earlier this week because organizers with the Bruin Republicans said they were unable to accommodate the requirements from Yiannopoulos's team.
In a response to the UCLA cancellation, Yiannopoulos said, "I travel with bodyguards twenty-four hours a day, and (the tour) is a multimillion-dollar operation with logistical and security requirements like any other celebrity or professional musical tour. We understand some college organizers invite me unaware of this complexity, so we work hard to help them through the process."
If it were up to Cal student Jason O'Neal, Yiannopoulos won't face any trouble, at least from him.
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"So if you're conservative or have opinions that are a little more to the right, I think you can still express those here," he said.
Here media is so giddy, showing protester and how challenging it will be Milo to pass protester first.
The article calls him a “white nationalist.” What is the evidence for that claim.
December 2, 1964: A campus activist named Mario Savio, in a rant at Sproul Hall, gave rise to the Berkeley Free Speech movement that arguably began the politicization on college campuses that has now, apparently, morphed into the Berkeley Only-Politically-Correct Speech movement.
I hope they’re really violent cuz IT HELPS MILO.
And I hope beforehand they scream their heads off in visible locations.
Milo often says “those idiots do my work for me”.
I believe him 100%.
The new Victorian Prudes are the left, and righties are using lefty tactics on them:
Get them to be outraged and fearful.
IT HELPS US.
“Yiannopoulos is a leading figure in the “alt-right movement,” a growing group of white nationalists who often espouse racist and misogynistic views.”
Write a lie often enough and sooner or later a libel suit will appear.
How about giving these Snowflake Cupcakes a little taste of their own crap!
On Saturday, May 13, 2017, protest their time-honored Commencement filled with traditional pomp and circumstances.
https://commencement.berkeley.edu/faq
Commencement, the campuswide ceremony for all graduating seniors from all majors and their families, includes the Chancellor's address, keynote address, and most of the traditional pomp and circumstance. Departmental graduations occur separately within their discipline and are more personal, with each graduate walking across stage to receive a commemorative certificate. Some departmental graduations require tickets; others do not. Contact your department for the most up-to-date info on its graduation ceremony.
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