The University of California, Los Angeles administration has backed away from an initial charge issued to the Bruin College Republicans after announcing their plans to host conservative speaker Ben Shapiro on campus. The charge was an unconstitutional security fee in a feigned attempt to stop the event, which the Bruin College Republicans protested in a demand letter.
The students partnered with Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF), a law firm focused on campus free speech issues. UCLA has backed down and is now reviewing their policy towards the event security fees.
“We have received the response from the administration,” Bruin Republicans President Jordan Sadlier told Red Alert Politics. “In response to our demand letter, they have decided to not charge the Bruin Republicans security fees for the Ben Shapiro event. However, they are still reviewing their policy before they make a decision on keeping, modifying, or removing it. We will decide how to move forward once we receive a final decision on the policy itself.”
The event with Shapiro, scheduled for Nov. 13, will proceed as planned, currently without the security fee. UCLA, which is Shapiro’s alma mater, has joined a long list of schools who use unconventional tactics like security fees and venue changes in an attempt to discourage conservative speakers.
“UCLA admits that there’s ‘no way’ the student group will be able to afford the fees if charged — fees of the kind that the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear violate the First Amendment,” the Bruin Republicans stated in a press release. “The school didn’t impose the same requirement on other events that attracted large outside audiences. In 2014, it paid $300,000 to Hillary Clinton to speak at the school. Of the 1,800 tickets for that event, 1,400 were sold to the highest bidder (mostly off-campus purchasers) and only 400 were given away to students.”
Shapiro garnered national news attention in September when he spoke at UC Berkeley amid protests by violent Antifa members. The Bruin Republicans are hoping that they don’t see the same level of violence at their upcoming event.
“In light of the unconstitutional actions taken by the UCLA administration to limit our organization’s right to free speech, the Bruin Republicans are formally asking the university to remedy this blatant act of viewpoint discrimination,” Sadlier said. “With the help of ADF and Young America’s Foundation, the Bruin Republicans have high hopes of achieving a resounding affirmation that our freedoms will be respected.”
“As the U.S. Supreme Court has made very clear, public universities can’t enact policies that effectively stifle free speech just because administrators fear protesters might show up,” said ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer in a press release. “The reason for that is simple: Speech isn’t free if all it takes to silence it is for someone else to object. The high court has specifically stated that security fees, such as the ones at UCLA, aren’t constitutionally permissible.”
“The Bruin Republicans are pleased that the UCLA administration has decided to not charge our organization with the security fees to curtail anticipated protests for our Ben Shapiro event on November 13th. However, although this is a small victory for the free speech movement, we are still seeking that the policy be removed completely or at least be modified to have an objective criteria of enforcement going forward. Although I cannot guarantee that UCLA will make their policy comply with the constitution, I can assure you that the Bruin Republicans will never back down in our fight against viewpoint discrimination,” Sadlier said.
Peter Van Voorhis (@RepublicanPeter) is a conservative activist, commentator, and journalist who focuses on political issues affecting millennials.
