Category Archives: Ben Shapiro

Republican students are demanding that the University of California-Los Angeles not force them to accept a “bizarre” security fee policy for a November 13 speech by Ben Shapiro. The policy requires that at least 70% of attendees be UCLA students, otherwise the Bruin Republicans club will be required to cover the full cost of security for the event.

Republican students are demanding that the University of California-Los Angeles not force them to accept a “bizarre” security fee policy for a November 13 speech by Ben Shapiro.

According to a letter sent on the club’s behalf by the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the proposed “70/30 agreement” would require that 70 percent of attendees be UCLA students, stipulating that should this quota not be met, the individual officers of Bruin Republicans would be held financially responsible for security costs assessed by the administration.

The letter asks the school to “immediately rescind the security fees assessed to Bruin Republicans for the upcoming Event and confirm that [the Bruin Republicans] will not be required to sign the contract or comply.”

According to Bruin Republicans Vice President Tyler Fowlkes, the UCLA administration has advised the group that specific cost estimates cannot be given until the week of the scheduled event, but has already “openly acknowledged” that there is “no way” the Bruin Republicans will be able to fund the event considering the added costs.

Fowlkes told Campus Reform that he believes UCLA’s response to the letter “will depend upon outcry,” noting that “public opinion can very much shape policy” because according to the First Amendment, “Anybody should be able come and speak at a public university regardless of political affiliation.”

[…]

Complete text linked here.