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Ann Coulter Refuses UC Berkeley's Attempt at Rescheduling Her Talk
NBC Bay Area ^

Posted on 04/21/2017 9:25:25 AM PDT by nickcarraway

Ann Coulter has rejected the University of California, Berkeley's re-invitation to speak on campus, according to Fox News.

On Thursday, a day after calling off Coulter's upcoming appearance for security reasons, university officials backtracked and paved the way for her to speak to students on May 2.

But the right-wing provocateur responded via Twitter on Thursday, indicating they've already spent money for the previously scheduled event on April 27, and she's not available to speak on the new date. Then she

On Twitter, she also brushed off Berkeley's statement "claiming they 'rescinded' cancelation." Instead she condemned officials for adding "NEW, more burdensome" conditions on her constitution rights. University officials on Thursday said they've found a venue for the rescheduled event, but they did not reveal the specific location.

Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said they originally canceled Coulter because of student safety. But because she is vowing to speak anyway, the university found a new venue.

"As the home of the free speech movement, we fully support the right of our students to host speakers of their choice," Dirks said. "We also have an unwavering commitment to providing for the safety and well being of speakers who come to campus, our students and other members of our campus."

The university said an "expanded search" has uncovered a venue on campus that meets their security criteria.

UC Berkeley officials said Wednesday that they were "unable to find a safe and suitable" venue for the right-wing provocateur who was invited to speak by campus Republicans on April 27. Further details about the decision reversal were not immediately available.

The hubbub sparked Tuesday when Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy sent a letter the Berkeley College Republicans, saying that university officials in consultation with campus police had determined they could not ensure the safety of Coulter, audience members or protesters expected at the event.

News organizations obtained a copy of the letter Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, UCPD determined that, given currently active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully ... at any of the campus venues available on April 27th," the letter said. University spokesman Dan Mogulof said that posters went up on campus last week threatening disruption of the event and officials discovered "targeted threats" on various websites indicating the possibility of planned violence.

"We realize that this is disappointing news," Biddy's letter said, promising that campus police and officials will work the Berkeley College Republicans to find another time and date for Coulter's speech.

UC Berkeley said it did not have enough advance notice to provide security for the Coulter event.

"We learned about the invitation to Ms. Coulter by reading about it in the newspaper," university officials said.

Berkeley College Republicans said that's not true, that they provided plenty of notice about their plans.

The cancellation comes days after violent clashes between far-right and far-left protesters Saturday at a rally supporting President Donald Trump in downtown Berkeley.

An appearance at UC Berkeley by former Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos was canceled after protesters rioted outside the event in February.

UC Berkeley police said there won't be a repeat of what unfolded during the Yiannopoulos melee, when people who had infiltrated the protest started smashing windows and lighting fires.

"Our approach is going to be different than the approach for the Milo event, again based on our after-action review," UC Berkeley police Capt. Alex Yao said.

Organizers of the event released their own statement Wednesday, expressing discontentment at the change in plans.

They wrote: "UC-Berkeley, a publicly-funded university, first imposed a series of ridiculous requirements on the speech allegedly in the name of 'safety.' Coulter, we were informed, would be required to deliver her speech in the afternoon; only students would be allowed to attend; and the speech location would not be announced until close to the event."

Although Berkeley College Republicans advised Coulter not to agree to those stipulations, she did, they wrote. In return, she asked the chancellor to help ensure appropriate police response to "law-breaking by rioters attempting to shut down conservative speakers," according to the statement.

Coulter reportedly also asked Berkeley officials to warn students that "engaging in violence, mayhem or heckling" to prevent the speech would result in expulsion, the statement said.

The Berkeley College Republicans reported Coulter as having said, "If Berkeley wants to have free speech, it can have it."

The group lashed out in its statement, accusing university officials of misusing taxpayer money for an "unconstitutional purpose" and comparing Biddy and UC President Janet Napolitano to North Korea's authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un. l "This is as clear-cut a case as it gets that public universities are using taxpayer dollars to shut down conservative speech, while allowing liberal speech only," they wrote.

Group members have stressed that they have "no intention of acceding to these unconstitutional acts. The Ann Coulter lecture sponsored by Young America’s Foundation will go forward."

Coulter herself said in a tweet Wednesday she's still planning on coming to Berkeley to speak and blasted the school for canceling the event.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: berkeley; coulter; coulterberkeley; coulterspeech
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To: Mr. K

You are so right. As if she, being a right-wing provocateur, is responsible for and deserving of having her First Amendment rights curtailed by thugs.

The press. Man what dickks.


41 posted on 04/21/2017 10:36:11 AM PDT by StAntKnee (Add your own danged sarc tag)
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To: gaijin
I don’t care where she starts out speaking, later on she will need a portable bullhorn with lots of spare batteries. And she needs a helmet and clear swim goggles.

LOL! Make a fashion statement out of it, Ann!


42 posted on 04/21/2017 10:36:30 AM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: nickcarraway

People should take note of how Coulter has handled this. The university unilaterally “cancels” her speech, she immediately makes it clear that she’s coming anyways, come what may. They quickly realize they’ve screwed themselves, a PR disaster coming down the pipe, so all of the sudden, lo and behold they can accommodate her, just not on the day planned. She rejects that as well, now they just look pathetic and it’s still a week away.

Lesson: don’t back down with these people. You just state your intentions, stick to them, and let them react however they see fit.


43 posted on 04/21/2017 10:46:10 AM PDT by Behind the Blue Wall
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To: TakebackGOP; FreeReign

Well, duh! Coulter is only doing it for free Joan Baez
tickets. Instead of bitchin’ about Coulter just
remember that she is doing a lot more for the cause than
you are by sniping at her.


44 posted on 04/21/2017 10:50:47 AM PDT by Sivad (Don't believe in ' /s ' tags)
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To: FreeReign

She is going to have e some guests. Could one be Milo?


45 posted on 04/21/2017 10:53:43 AM PDT by luvbach1 (I hope Trump runs roughshod over the inevitable obstuctionists, Dems, progs, libs, or RINOs!)
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It’s all about money.


46 posted on 04/21/2017 11:03:44 AM PDT by TakebackGOP
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To: freedumb2003

I’m trying to guess what FIFT means. Here goes.... Is it F*ck it, F*ck them?


47 posted on 04/21/2017 11:20:40 AM PDT by Blue Highway (Q)
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To: Blue Highway

LOL — FIFT = Fixed It For Them.

Like FIFY :)


48 posted on 04/21/2017 11:33:29 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (The Civil Rights movement compared content of their character to skin color and chose the latter)
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To: TakebackGOP

>>She’s a has-been.<<

Irrelevant to the issue at hand. Even if she was Glenn Beck this is a speech suppression issue.

It is a huge deal since the fascists are trying to physically and violently close down ALL dissent from liberal orthodoxy.


49 posted on 04/21/2017 11:35:15 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (The Civil Rights movement compared content of their character to skin color and chose the latter)
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To: TakebackGOP

>>She’s a has-been.<<

Irrelevant to the issue at hand. Even if she was Glenn Beck this is a speech suppression issue.

It is a huge deal since the fascists are trying to physically and violently close down ALL dissent from liberal orthodoxy.


50 posted on 04/21/2017 11:35:16 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (The Civil Rights movement compared content of their character to skin color and chose the latter)
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To: nickcarraway
Ann revealed today that the May 2 date is after classes end, so few if any students would be around.

What dishonest filth these administrators be.

51 posted on 04/21/2017 11:38:00 AM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: factoryrat

“Toilet paper has more value than a UC degree now.
A UC degree reference on your resume will get your resume tossed into the vertical file almost instantly now.
The list of no hire college graduates is getting longer every day.”

Well, first of all, I absolutely loathe the UC Berkeley administration. They have always ben a bunch of Marxists. But I have a degree in Engineering from that institution, and it was always an entree to a top-notch job during my working career, with some positions not even being related to Engineering. When I went to school there, there were four “engineering schools” in the country’s top tier, and Berkeley was number one in most disciplines. The others were MIT, CalTech, and Stanford (interesting that three of the four were in CA isn’t it). so I find your assertions to be most likely false as regards technical education in the UC system.


52 posted on 04/21/2017 11:41:31 AM PDT by vette6387
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To: TakebackGOP; FreeReign
Nice of you to join us here in your FR diapers, throwing a tantrum about Annie, who was with us in 1998 at the March for Justice.

Annie was laughed at by a lib panel on Bill Maher's show on June 19, 2015 - when she predicted Trump's victory before anyone else [1:44].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqlsGn76oJw

So shutta you mouth already, n00b. 😀

53 posted on 04/21/2017 11:45:06 AM PDT by kiryandil (Americ)
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To: kiryandil

And she said Margaret Thatcher tried to teach Palin how to speak English.


54 posted on 04/21/2017 11:59:28 AM PDT by TakebackGOP
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To: nickcarraway

I believe that next week students are studying for finals.


55 posted on 04/21/2017 12:18:25 PM PDT by gogeo (When your life is based on a false premise...you are indeed insane.)
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To: TakebackGOP
She's a has been?

She appears to be doing much more now than there's evidence of you ever doing. So what does that make you?

56 posted on 04/21/2017 12:20:59 PM PDT by gogeo (When your life is based on a false premise...you are indeed insane.)
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To: TakebackGOP
And she said Margaret Thatcher tried to teach Palin how to speak English.

BFD.

Annie has paid her dues.

I love Sarah Palin, and would tell off Coulter to her face if she made such an insinuation in front of me, but the fact is that Sarah was mostly destroyed by the Media Death Star.

Sarah DID show President Trump the way to fight back, though.

We'll get even with the Left for the Palin BS, don't you worry your pretty little head. 😀

57 posted on 04/21/2017 12:35:40 PM PDT by kiryandil (Americ)
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To: gogeo
She appears to be doing much more now than there's evidence of you ever doing. So what does that make you?

A never was. And a whiny little b!tch to boot.

58 posted on 04/21/2017 12:35:45 PM PDT by BlueMondaySkipper (Involuntarily subsidizing the parasite class since 1981)
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To: vette6387; factoryrat
I think factoryrat was talking about the UC Soft Unsciences.

Though those arsewipes are endangering up-and-coming technical science UC grads - not established grads like yourself.

59 posted on 04/21/2017 12:38:05 PM PDT by kiryandil (Americ)
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To: Sivad
Instead of bitchin’ about Coulter just remember that she is doing a lot more for the cause than you are by sniping at her.

Remember when Orly Taiz was desperately trying to prove Obama was not qualified? We had copious lawyerly types show up here to ridicule her efforts, yet not one of them offered to help her. Shameful behavior not unlike what we are seeing here.

60 posted on 04/21/2017 12:51:06 PM PDT by itsahoot (As long as there is money to be divided, there will be division.)
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