David Horowitz, author of The New York Times bestselling book "Big Agenda: President Trump's Plan to Save America," slammed the University of California, Berkeley, after the Berkeley College Republicans canceled his speech last week, citing increased costs and other issues.
"It's absolutely deliberate," Horowitz, founder of the David Horowitz Freedom Center, told Newsmax in an interview. "What they've done is they've taken the security issue, which is a responsibility of their police department, and thrown it on to the College Republicans."
Horowitz's "Big Agenda" has become the No. 1 selling book of the Trump presidency, but despite more than nine weeks near the top of The New York Times bestseller lists, media organizations have kept him off the air. Now academia is joining the effort to stop his pro-Trump positions, Horowitz said.
"They don't have to do this for left-wing speakers because conservative kids are well-behaved — and they don't riot, and they don't try to obstruct these things.
"What they're doing is they're putting these onerous burdens on the conservative kids, then charging them for the security. They make it impossible for conservative kids to hold an event.
"That's their agenda."
But Berkeley officials "categorically reject" Horowitz's allegations, with spokesman Dan Mogulof telling Newsmax the author's assertions were "beyond absurd."
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In an April 10 letter to Berkeley officials, Pieter Sittler, vice president of the Berkeley College Republicans, said the organization was canceling Horowitz's speech — scheduled for two days later, April 12 at 1 p.m.
The group initially sought a 4 p.m. start for the event, co-sponsored by Young America's Foundation.
However, university officials — in consultation with Berkeley campus police — scheduled Horowitz's speech for 1 p.m. at the Krutch Theatre on Berkeley's Clark Kerr Campus, about a 10-minute walk across campus.
"Realistically, we saw that the costs for an event that was inevitably going to have light turnout would not be a productive expenditure of resources," Sittler said in his letter.
"We thank the school for being willing to spend money on additional security, especially in times of budgetary constraints at public universities."
"We will be sure to provide the school with more advanced notice for events in the future in order to facilitate the planning process," Sittler said.
But Branden West, the organization's external vice president, told Horowitz in an April 10 email the speech was being canceled because "the inconvenient time (1-3 pm) and venue (many blocks away from campus), as well as the large costs imposed on us, have made this event very difficult to proceed with."
West's email included a copy of a "bare minimum" estimate of $5,788 for security — "We saw this bill for the first time today — plus an estimate $2,000 to rent the Krutch Theatre.
"The administration got back to us so late with our time and venue information that we only had a limited time window to publicize this event," West said in his email, which Horowitz provided to Newsmax.
The College Republicans advertised the speech on social media and via fliers and other postings, West said.
Horowitz's Freedom Center, based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., also distributed fliers advertising the speech.
"Many students were interested, but obviously had time conflicts," because the speech was scheduled for 1 p.m., West said. "With only 30 students registered to attend, we simply cannot spend over $250 per student.
"It's too expensive," he told Horowitz in the email.
Mogulof, Berkeley's assistant vice chancellor, told Newsmax the College Republicans canceled Horowitz's speech "simply because of their lack of resources."
The move occurred "as per their decision, not the campus'," he added. "We had looked forward to having a safe and well-attended event.
"They had been provided with a venue on the Berkeley campus free of charge.
"We had put in place expensive security arrangements at great cost to the university — and we were sorry to see that they had made a decision to cancel the event."
Mogulof said the Krutch Theatre was selected based on recommendations by Berkeley police after violent protests in February surrounding the visit of conservative provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, which caused $100,000 in damages.
University officials said the melee was caused by "150 masked agitators" — not affiliated with Berkeley — who had come to disrupt otherwise peaceful demonstrations. They were later arrested.
Two Berkeley College Republicans "were attacked while conducting an interview" during the unrest, the university said, and the organization canceled the speech.
Mogulof told Newsmax: "The timing and the location for this event was determined solely and exclusively by the recommendations of our police force about what sort of timing and location would have offered the best chance to mitigate risk, ensure safety for all and maximize the chances that the event would take place."
Horowitz called the cancelation "an infringement of the First Amendment rights of these students and myself.
"It's a public university, so it requires that they fund things. They're required to do it in a neutral way.
"They can't punish Republicans and benefit Democrats.
"My First Amendment rights have been violated and so have the students," he told Newsmax. "It's worse for the students."
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