Berkeley cancels Ann Coulter’s speech over security concerns

Officials at the University of California at Berkeley have canceled a planned speech by conservative pundit Ann Coulter citing security concerns.

In a letter to Berkeley College Republicans, who invited Coulter to speak, university officials said they were unable to ensure the safety of the speaker, audience members or protesters who would be at the April 27 event, according to a report by the Associated Press.

“Given current active security threats, it is not possible to assure that the event could be held successfully,” the letter read.

But Coulter told The Hollywood Reporter that she plans to speak anyway.

“Yes, it was officially banned,” Coulter said, according to the report. “But they can’t stop me. I’m an American. I have Constitutional rights.” 

{mosads}The decision follows massive protests that broke out at the University in February in response to the same college Republican group’s scheduled event with right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.

The school was forced to cancel the event and place the school on a campus-wide lockdown over growing protests.

President Trump knocked the school in response to the incident, threatening to cut federal funds from the public university.

If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

Coulter told the Washington Post that Berkeley had attempted to place “ridiculous demands” on her speech, including scheduling the event for the middle of that day so that only students could attend.

“They just up and announced that I was prohibited from speaking anyway,” Coulter told the Washington Post. “I feel like the Constitution is important and that taxpayer-supported universities should not be using public funds to violate American citizens’ Constitutional rights.”

University officials said they hope to reschedule her speech for sometime in September, the Washington Post reported.

“It has nothing to do with anyone’s political views. We believe in unqualified support to the First Amendment. But we also have an unqualified focus on safety of our students,” said University spokesman Dan Mogulof, according to the Post.

“We are going to be making a concerted effort to explain the reasons behind this.”