According to The College Fix, “UC Berkeley’s College Republicans have fielded anonymous death threats and calls from student government officials to shut the group down for hosting conservative speaker Michael Knowles, who spoke on how transgenderism harms children.”
This attack on free speech is sadly not surprising as Berkeley is known to be a radical liberal school.
Michael Knowles spoke about “the harms of transgender ideology and the impact it has on children,” according to the California College Republicans.
Members of the student government at Berkeley threatened to hold The Berkeley CR’s accountable.
“UC Berkeley Chancellor Richard Lyons posted a video a few weeks after the event saying he was ‘dismayed by recent posters calling for the elimination of transgender people’ in a broader video calling for students’ to tone down their rhetoric.”
“Martin Bertao, chairman of the California College Republicans and president of the Berkeley Republicans, told The Fix that reaction was uncalled for.”
Unlike this protected free speech, there were fliers placed around campus calling for students to “SAVE A SICK PUPPY KILL DONALD TRUMP AND ALL CAMPUS REPUBLICANS.”
This example of threatening speech is in stark contrast with Knowles, who was engaging in free speech.
Even UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof agreed, saying, “The university supports Knowles’ right to speak on campus.”
“Michael Knowles crossed no lines. What he said was a Constitutionally protected expression,” he said, adding, “The school is not taking action against the Berkeley College Republicans.”
The very fact that a mainstream conservative speaker generated such controversy is a stark reminder of the sorry state of free speech in so-called higher education.
