Leaked Email From Berkeley Chancellor: ‘This is a University, Not a Battlefield’

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Ann Coulter’s talk at the University of California, Berkeley, has been cancelled due to the violent leftist extremists hell bent on shutting down free speech.

In a leaked email to university staff, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks made it clear that the former home of the 1964 Free Speech Movement now caves into political violence to quell dissenting views.

“The University has two non-negotiable commitments, one to Free Speech, the other to the safety of our campus community members, their guests, and the public. In that context, we cannot ignore or deny what is the new reality. Groups and individuals from the extreme ends of the political spectrum have made it clear their readiness and intention to utilize violent tactics in support or in protest of certain speakers at UC Berkeley,” Dirks wrote.

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“In early February, a speaker’s presence on campus ignited violent conflict and significant damage to campus property,” Dirks wrote of the Milo Yiannopoulos speaking event that was cancelled after leftists began throwing firebombs and looting in “protest.”

Dirks fails to note that the violent conflict and significant damage was perpetrated by just one group, those aiming to smash the freedom of speech for anyone on the right.

“In March, political violence erupted on the streets of Berkeley. In April, opposing groups again violently clashed on the edge of our campus. While some seem inclined to use these events and circumstances to draw attention to themselves, we remain focused on the needs, rights, and interests of our students and our community. We cannot wish away or pretend those threats don’t exist.”

The chancellor goes on to state that the strategies to address the “evolving threats” are also evolving, but that it is “simplistic” to assume that police can “simply step in and stop violent confrontations whenever they occur.” It has been widely alleged that the police were issued stand down orders during previous conflicts by the mayor.

As we previously reported, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin happens to be a member of the Facebook group of far left militant organization, By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), who has been orchestrating the riots.

https://twitter.com/Gavin_McInnes/status/855457030190092288

BAMN was named by the FBI in 2005 as thought to be involved in domestic terrorist activities.

“This is a University, not a battlefield,” Dirks writes. “We must make every effort to hold events at a time and location that maximizes the chances that First Amendment rights can be successfully exercised and that community members can be protected.”

The chancellor then claims, perhaps failing to see the irony, that the university’s “commitment to freedom of speech and expression remains absolute.”

He stated that while “absolute,” there were “specific, significant, and real” threats of violence. Instead of working with police to arrest those making the threats, US Berkeley has apparently caved in to terrorists.

Dirks claims that the school still remains ready to welcome Coulter to their campus, but goes on to say that they will not “allow our students, other members of the campus community, and the public to be needlessly endangered by permitting an event to be held in a venue that our police force does not believe to be protectable.” He notes that the auditorium has floor to ceiling glass and not enough exits.

“This sole reason we could not accommodate Mr. Coulter on April 27th, and the very reason we offered her alternative dates in early May and September,” he wrote. He claimed that they “did not cancel the Coulter event,” which was already approved, planned and advertised, by forcing them to reschedule it for another date.

The date the school offered is during a “dead week” when students are busy preparing for their final exams, according to the lawsuit filed on Monday.

Late last week, Harmeet Dhillon of Dhillon Law Group, which is representing the student groups who organized the event, sent off a strongly worded letter to the administration, promising to sue if they did not remedy the situation.

“In each of the three recent conservative speech censorship instances, UC Berkeley impermissibly has allowed a ‘heckler’s veto’ to suppress the free speech rights of speakers properly invited by recognized student groups, and in each case, did so after first attempting to bully the students out of pursuing their quest to hear these alternative voices by piling on requirement after unconstitutional requirement – ‘security fees,’ inconvenient hours, inconvenient locations, attendance restrictions, and more,” Dhillon wrote in the letter.

Earlier this month, the university cancelled an appearance by conservative writer David Horowitz, while allowing for former Mexican President Vicente Fox to speak without incident.

In a recent press release, Yiannopoulos has vowed to hold a week long “Free Speech” event on the campus later this year, promising to turn the event into a month long occupation — complete with tents — if the university refuses to comply.

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