UC Berkeley Group Cancels ‘Free Speech Week,’ But Milo Shows Up Anyway
Image by Getty
By Ari Feldman September 25, 2017
A University of California, Berkeley student group has cancelled its “Free Speech Week,” a four-day event beginning on Sunday set to include appearances by right-wing media figures Stephen Bannon, Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos.
However, Yiannopoulos showed up anyway on Sunday. According to Quartz, Berkeley was forced to pay $800,000 in security fees during Yiannopolos’ twenty-minute appearance.
The student group, the Berkeley Patriot, a conservative student news publication, said it decided to cancel the event on Saturday “through its outside legal counsel.”
The following day, Yiannapoulos posted a letter sent by the Berkeley Patriot’s legal counsel to the school’s administration on Instagram, claiming that the student group had “been subjected to extraordinary pressure and resistance, if not outright hostility” while planning its Free Speech Week event.
Yiannapoulos was only able to remain on campus while surrounded by law enforcement in riot gear, as he was swarmed by hundreds of protestors.
In February, Yiannapoulos cancelled a planned speaking engagement at Berkeley due to violent protests of his appearance.
Contact Ari Feldman at feldman@forward.com or on Twitter @aefeldman.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
