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New round in debate over Ann Coulter and her right to speak at Berkeley Inside Higher Ed The fight over whether and when Ann Coulter will speak at the University of California, Berkeley, did not end with the university's invitation to her to speak there May 2. Before that invitation was extended, the university had said it could not allow ... UC Berkeley reschedules Ann Coulter talk -- and raises thorny legal questionPBS NewsHour UC Berkeley students threaten to sue over Ann Coulter visitFox News Lawyer For College Republicans In Berkeley Says University Is Denying Free Speech For Canceling Ann CoulterCBS Philly TheBlaze.com -New Republic -Washington Post -Young America's Foundation all 259 news articles »

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New round in debate over Ann Coulter and her right to speak at Berkeley - Inside Higher Ed

Conservative firebrand Ann Coulter found an unlikely ally in Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) over the weekend when the self-described democratic-socialist defended Coulters right to speak on a college campus.

The University of California, Berkeley last week canceled an event where Coulter was scheduled to speak, citing security concerns. University officials fearthat Coulters presence on campus will incite another round ofviolent protests similar to what happened in February something the school and city have become accustomed to in recent months.

Given currently active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully or that the safety of Ms. Coulter, the event sponsors, audience, and bystanders could be adequately protected at any of the campus venues, university officials said.

But Sanders doesnt believe that what happened to Coulter is right. The former presidential candidate said Coulter should be allowed to speak on campus without fear of violence or intimidation.

I dont like this. I dont like it, he told the Huffington Post last week when asked about the situation.

Obviously, Ann Coulters outrageous to my mind, off the wall. But you know, people have a right to give their two cents-worth, give a speech, without fear of violence and intimidation, he explained.

In recent years, students, mostly liberal and progressive in their politics and worldview, have organized in force to protest conservative speakers claiming that their hate speech shouldnt be allowed on campus. Of course, the hate speech they refer to is hardly hateful and more often than not just an idea or opinion that the students disagree with.

Still, students have beendetermined to take whatever steps necessary to shut down speakers they disagree with and whom they deem bring hate to their campus. Its all in the name of silencing fascists, the students claim.

But Sanders disagrees. He told the Huffington Post that its just a sign the students are intellectual lightweights.

To me, its a sign of intellectual weakness, he said. If you cant ask Ann Coulter in a polite way questions which expose the weakness of her arguments, if all you can do is boo, or shut her down, or prevent her from coming, what does that tell the world?

What are you afraid of her ideas? Ask her the hard questions. Confront her intellectually, Sanders said. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I dont think that that works in any way.

Sanders isnt the only noted liberal to come to Coulters defense in recent days. HBO Real Time host Bill Maher slammed the university on his show Friday and labeled the students f***ing babies.

Berkeley used to be the cradle of free speech, and now its just the cradle for f***ing babies, Maher said. I feel like this is the liberal version of book burning and its got to stop.

University officials have since rescheduled Coulters speech for May 2, a day when students will be deep in books studying for final exams.

Coulter, however, is insistent on giving her speech on Thursday, the originally scheduled day.

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Ann Coulter finds unlikely ally in powerful liberal politician after Berkeley cancels speech - TheBlaze.com

April 23, 2017 | :

I believe in free speech, the First Amendment and all that. Thats our starting point on campus, and in America. Its free speech for me and thee, as the saying goes, in a healthy democracy.

Ann Coulter

So lets not make Ann Coulter into a free speech martyr just yet because the University of California, Berkeley switched her speech dates from this coming Thursday, April 27, to a time and place that could assure her safety. That would be May 2.

Instead of being flattered that there are some people concerned for her personal well-being, Coulters not going to have it. In addition, the more she complains, the more it comes off as a less-than-fine whine.

There is good reason for the switched dates. Some people were actually thinking nice things about Coulter and showing concern, which is more than most of the public would. However, such is the price one pays for living life as the ever-provocative right-wing media persona of ones own creation. Shes Bill OReilly in a dress. And Im sure shes upset to not be considered for his replacement. Shell just have to make her noise elsewhere.

As Ive long said, colleges and universities dont have a free speech problem. They have a how to present provocative speakers problem.

And Berkeley has actually come up with a good compromise after it originally cancelled Coulters April 27 appearance.

Berkeleys solution a different date and a safer venue actually makes common sense.

Of course, everyone seems to have a dog in this fight, from the Berkeley College Republicans that sent her the initial invitation, as well as the national conservative group, the Young Americas Foundation (which incidentally reported as footing the vast part of Coulters $20,000 speaking fee). And everyone is threatening legal action.

However, university spokesperson Dan Mogulof said the school was on solid legal grounds and spoke about putting public safety first.

We are concerned about (Coulters) disregard for the assessment and recommendations of law enforcement professionals whose primary focus is the safety and well-being of our students and other members of our campus community, Mogulof told the Washington Post.

I suppose a right-wing, pro-gun fanatic like Coulter would say wed all be safer if everyone just showed up with their own guns. As I write the sentence, the notion is ludicrous.

However, I would like to see how much concerned she would have for her safety at a right-to-carry school like the University of Texas at Austin.

Instead, Coulter is all too willing to put herself up on a stake as if she werethe First Amendments St. Joan. The symbolism is more appealing than anything.

Coulters part of the showbiz realm of politics, which Donald Trump has exploited to the extreme. More than actually speaking to the crowd, Coulter gets her jollies from the process of getting to the podium. The news generated from being cancelled, then offered a substitute venue, and then rejecting that and threatening legal action, does more for Coulter than actually giving the speech.

Whatever she was going to say would not be considered news. Rejectinga substitute venue makes Coulter news.

What gets lost in all the posturing is the real problem of adequate public safety at events that draw large numbers of outsiders and potential disrupters.

The schools solution made sense. Hold it during day hours when the dark of night is not an ally to protestors. And have it during a break period. Fewer students, sure, but those students who desperately want to meet Coulter will be there. And those who dont will be away. Such a move also lowers the net potential liability to actual university community members.And the ones who want to see her and show up will be adequately protected by university cops.

Related: Rainy day blues at UDC: furloughs, pay cuts and tuition hikes at the University of the District of Columbia - University of the District of Columbia

A fair compromise. Personally, I would have had it while class was in session during the day. In a classroom, students who did want to ask questions and challenge Coulter could do so.

But again, thats not really what Coulter or the young conservatives are interested in. Its not about the public discourse. Its all about the public show, and exploiting the legacy of Berkeley, the great public university that has its symbolic legacy of protest and free speech. And now they have a weeks work of buildup before any speech or discourse occurs.

Coulter gets much pub.And likely will get to keep a chunk of her $20,000 fee whether she speaks or not.

If shes really interested in free speech, lets see her volunteer to show up at a class. Forget the fee. Go to a lecture hall and teach without portfolio. (What does Coulter know compared to say Robert Reich, the former Clinton labor secretary who teaches there?) Talk for a while and take questions. Make it a class, not a rhetorical circus for media attention. Act like a scholar with something to say, instead of a blonde mannequin with something to sell books, an image, a right-wing viewpoint. Lets see if she actually belongs up there with the best professors speaking to the students of arguably Americas finest public university.

Who knows what will happen this week?

But if Coulter wants to keep playing free-speech saint, Id settle for her showing up unannounced on Bancroft and Telegraph during the day with a bullhorn next to the mobile falafel stand. Lets see who draws more Coulter or the chickpea balls.

Related: Tuition freeze celebrated, but cost of campus living increases

That would be interesting if she were really about free speech, exchanging ideas or engaging with students in public. Next to a food truck. But thats not Ann Coulter.

Coulters the $20,000-a-speech right-wing media star, with nothing to say, but always happy to be the center of attention.

Berkeley should stick to its stand, offering her a way to speak, but putting public safety first. Its a good common-sense compromise.

A conservative like Coulter should be more appreciative of the schools cautious approach.

Emil Guillermo is an award-winning journalist and commentator. He writes for the civil rights group, AALDEF, at http://www.aaldef.org/blog.

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Guillermo: Ann Coulter No Free Speech Saint - Diverse: Issues in Higher Education

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Posted: Apr 23, 2017 12:01 AM

Theres an important lesson for conservatives in the news this week, if theyre willing to learn from it. Appeasement always fails. Always.

Throughout history people have been desperate to avoid conflict. Many are willing to do anything to stave off a fight. In politics it is no different.

Corporations have spent untold millions in donations to radical environmental groups or hustlers such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in the hope of buying some goodwill should any unexpected controversy arise. Its never worked.

When something went wrong, as it always does, or some controversy (real or contrived) breaks, the very people they had cultivated were out in front of a bank of cameras demanding justice, which usually comes in the form of another, larger, check.

The same thing happens in the news business. Fox News let Bill OReilly go this week because people who never watch their network, who never would watch their network, pressured companies to pull their advertising from the top-rated show in cable news history.

That the companies caved isnt a surprise -- caving to left-wing mobs is what companies do. But if Fox had not caved, advertisers would have come back to OReilly. It would be financial malpractice to avoid running ads to the largest audience possible, and companies dont remain successful committing financial malpractice.

But bad publicity always trumps spine.

The mob that went after OReilly is the same mob that went after Glenn Beck and the same that always has gone after Fox. Letting Beck go, then Roger Ailes, did not appease them. Neither will O'Reilly.

To the fascistic left, Fox News cant do right because its existence is wrong. As long as it exists, they will find something to be upset about and demand action on. And advertisers will cave.

I dont know what Bill OReilly did or didnt do, but I do know nothing was proven.

Companies pulled their ads not over proof, but over allegations. Youre supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but conservatives are simply guilty. Meanwhile, Democrats such as Bill Clinton, who were proven guilty, are still praised as if they were innocent.

I have to wonder how many of the companies who pulled their ads from OReillys show have donated to the Clinton Foundation? How many executives of those companies donated to Hillarys campaign? Or paid for speeches from either of them?

It doesnt matter. Liberals dont hold other liberals to different standards; they hold them to no standards. Standards are reserved exclusively for conservatives, mostly because they know we have them and they mean something.

If the allegations against OReilly had been proven, thats one thing. But they werent. And some of them were garbage anyway. One woman reportedly said he leered at her. Leered? Another said he got a guests name wrong and made a blonde joke about it. Seriously, get over yourself. And a third said he asked her to come back to his hotel room. After she refused, he stopped having her on his show.

Did it happen? Who knows? Was he otherwise obligated to have her on his show? No. If it happened, was it cool? No, it wasnt. Was it something that should end his career? They werent even co-workers.

But when a lawyer like Gloria Allred gets involved, or in this case her daughter, Lisa Bloom, forgive me if Im skeptical. They strike me as lawyers you go to when you want publicity, not justice. When you want to harm a conservative, not seek what is right.

Fox chose to go another route. Maybe its leaders know more than is public. Or maybe, as has been reported, the wife of one of Rupert Murdochs kids convinced him he had to do it because shes liberal. Whatever the reason, it happened and it wont unhappen.

But the fascistic left wont take a day to savor this scalp -- the largest in its recent collection. Lefties already are back at it, on the hunt for more. Always more.

And theyll get more because, unlike the right, theyre relentless. No fascist ever said, Well, we showed those people who think differently from us. How about we call it a day? No, they are relentless. They purge. They destroy. They still get visibly angry when someone speaks favorably about Ronald Reagan, and hes been dead for more than a decade.

Conservatives will continue to add scalps to the collections of these thought-Brownshirts just as their ideological comrades, the Blackshirts, will continue to collect scalps on college campuses, keeping them pure from differing opinions.

Where are elected Republicans on this? I get remaining silent about Fox. Its a private business, and what News Corp chooses to do is, ultimately, irrelevant to government.

But the Nazi march across publicly funded college campuses to prevent students from inviting conservative speakers is a government issue. Its a direct, unambiguous violation of the First Amendment. Wheres the outrage? Where are the public statements of condemnation? More importantly, where is the legislation to defund these indoctrination centers?

God bless Ann Coulter. When her speech at UC Berkeley was cancelled, Ann had the guts to say shes going anyway. She said shes going to speak, and if the school wanted to stop her it could have her arrested. The school has (at least for the moment) un-canceled the event, though it tried to schedule it on a different day. That wont work for Ann, and shes still planning on showing up Thursday.

If elected Republicans had anything but air in their shorts, theyd recess Congress and the entire caucus would be out there to escort her onto campus. Democrats in California and Washington, D.C., dont give a damn, and the states sniveling governor should send security but won't because he's rooting for the other side.

Itd also be helpful if President Trump spoke out against this and threatened action.

Is Ann Coulter the only person willing to stand up to the modern Gestapo?

A line must be drawn, because appeasement only leads to emboldening fascists. Don't look to the private sector -- its job is to profit, not ensure constitutional rights. Don't look to Democrats -- the mobs are their base, and although they'd be out in force if someone had to break stride to get into an abortion clinic, this is not their way.

It has to be Republicans. More specifically it has to be conservatives. A stand must be made because appeasement never works.

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Is Ann Coulter The Last Conservative With Guts? - Townhall

Berkeley used to be the cradle of free speech, and now its just the cradle for fing babies, the Real Time host said

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Bill Maher Slams Berkeley for Canceling Ann Coulter Speech: Liberals Version of Book Burning

Although Bill Maher admits that he and conservative commentator Ann Coulter have never agreed on anything, he came to her defense on Friday nights Real Time in reference to an issue thats near and dear to his heart: the First Amendment.

Ann Coulter ran into a little problem this week, Maher began. I was the speaker at Berkeley a couple of years ago and they dis-invited me, and they got their act together and I wound up doing it. Apparently, thats whats going to happen with her, I think.

Coulters planned speech at the University of California at Berkeley on April 27 was called offbecause of safety concerns. Given current active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully, Vice Chancellor Scott Biddy wrote in a letter to Berkeley College Republicans, which were sponsoring the event.

Also Read: Ann Coulter's Speech Canceled by Berkeley Over Fears of Violence

Berkeley used to be the cradle of free speech, and now its just the cradle for fing babies, Maher said. I feel like this goes on all over the country on campuses they invite somebody to speak thats not exactly what liberals want to hear and they want to shut her down. I feel like this is the liberals version of book burning. And its got to stop.

Maher went on to quote former Vermont governor Howard Dean, who tweeted Friday, Hate speech is not protected by the First Amendment.

Maher vehemently disagreed. Yes it is! Threats are not protected by the First Amendment. This is why the Supreme Court said Nazis could march in Skokie theyre a hateful bunch. But thats what the First Amendment means. It doesnt mean Shut up and agree with me.'

Hate speech is not protected by the first amendment. https://t.co/DOct3xcLoY

Howard Dean (@GovHowardDean) April 21, 2017

Berkeley announced Thursday that it had reversed its earlier decision to cancel Coulters appearance and now will allow her to speak at the school on May 2.

Coulters lawyers, however, sent the university a letter, demanding they honor its obligation to respect the First Amendment rights of its students, without regard to their political preference or affiliation, by ensuring that Ms. Coulter be allowed to speak on campus on April 27.

Read original story Bill Maher Slams Berkeley for Canceling Ann Coulter Speech: Liberals Version of Book Burning At TheWrap

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Bill Maher Slams Berkeley for Canceling Ann Coulter Speech: 'Liberals' Version of Book Burning' - SFGate