BERKELEY, CA (CelebrityAccess) — Just a day after postponing a speaking engagement by the conservative author Ann Coulter over security concerns, officials at University of California, Berkeley on Thursday reversed course and approved her May campus gig, the New York Times reported
The school's decision to block Coulter's speech drew criticism from across the political spectrum, with many observers noting that the school's decision flew in the face of their history of support for free speech.
“Free speech is what universities are all about,” Robert Reich, formerly a labor secretary in the Clinton administration and now a professor of public policy at Berkeley, and outspoken progressive figure said in a statement published on his website. “If universities don’t do everything possible to foster and protect it, they aren’t universities. They’re playpens.”
The school's decision to cancel the often intentionally proactive Coulter came after they endured several violent demonstrations on campus connected to public speaking engagements by controversial conservative figures.
The campus and its environs have become a focal point for small groups of militant right-wing groups and similar groups that describe themselves as radical anti-fascists or 'antifa.' In the most recent class between these two factions last weekend, police arrested more than 20 people. – Staff Writers
