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On Twitter, she also brushed off Berkeley's statement "claiming they 'rescinded' cancelation."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 Americas 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.
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.
LOL! Make a fashion statement out of it, Ann!
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.
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.
She is going to have e some guests. Could one be Milo?
It’s all about money.
I’m trying to guess what FIFT means. Here goes.... Is it F*ck it, F*ck them?
LOL — FIFT = Fixed It For Them.
Like FIFY :)
>>Shes 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.
>>Shes 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.
What dishonest filth these administrators be.
“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.
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. 😀
And she said Margaret Thatcher tried to teach Palin how to speak English.
I believe that next week students are studying for finals.
She appears to be doing much more now than there's evidence of you ever doing. So what does that make you?
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. 😀
A never was. And a whiny little b!tch to boot.
Though those arsewipes are endangering up-and-coming technical science UC grads - not established grads like yourself.
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.
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