UCLA wants GOP students to pay for "security" for their speakers

UCLA: "Only Leftists have the

right to free speech"

(World Net Daily)  -  UCLA has warned campus Republicans that they will have to pay for security for a speech planned by a conservative commentator, but officials don’t know the total yet.

The only thing they DO know is that the students won’t be able to pay.

Sound suspiciously like an orchestrated strategy to shut down a speaker – because of his viewpoint?

That’s what the experts at the Alliance Defending Freedom are concerned about, as they have written to school officials contesting the imposition of unknown fees.

“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.

“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 organization’s letter to school officials explains, “The Supreme Court has said, ‘[s]peech cannot be financially burdened, any more than it can be punished or banned, simply because it might offend a hostile mob.’ Imposing security fees based on the perspective offered by Bruin Republicans and its speaker is viewpoint discrimination. Thus, the university is violating Bruin Republicans’ First Amendment rights.”

The ADF letter went to Chancellor Gene Block in Los Angeles.

And it was prompted because the school “assessed security fees for an expressive event scheduled for November 13, 2017.”

“We ask that you immediately rescind the decision to assess the fees and correct the unconstitutional policy that permitted this discrimination,” it said.

The campus organization is trying to hold a speech by Ben Shapiro, a prominent conservative commentator and UCLA alumnus. He wants to speak on “Rise of Campus Fascism.”

Work was under way to set up the event when school officials abruptly told the campus group its members would have to pay for security.

“The university explained that it chose to assess security costs on Bruin Republicans based on the university’s evaluation of the campus climate and anticipated reactions towards Shapiro and his speech.”

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