Conservative author and commentator Ann Coulter paid a visit to the University of Wyoming for a speech Thursday night before a crowd of 1,500 – including a few dozen protesters who heckled her during her speech.
Some student groups on campus, which is near the spot where Matthew Shepherd was slain in 1998, protested Coulter’s speech by collecting donation pledges for gay and lesbian groups based on how long the conservative commentator spoke. “It’s a good thing I only spoke for 26 minutes,” Coulter said later.
Coulter’s not the first controversial figure to visit the college in recent years. Last year, Bill Ayers – co-founder of the Weather Underground, a radical anti-war group that was responsible for a series of bombings in the 1970s – generated protests with his invitation to speak at the school on education issues. An anonymous donor upset with Ayers’ April 2010 appearance paid for half of Coulter’s $20,000 speaking fee. UW’s College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation, a Virginia-based group promoting conservative ideas on college campuses, paid for the rest.
