Ann Coulter cancels Berkeley, says decision 'a dark day for free speech in America' 1

Coulter’s plan to speak created a war of words for the traditionally liberal campus embroiled by recent protests.

The speech was originally scheduled to take place Thursday – but Berkeley asked to postpone it until next month after protests over the planned speech grew into a nationally-watched firestorm.

Without any support, Ms. Coulter said, she was left with little choice. “Everyone who should believe in free speech fought against it or ran away,”

Coulter took to her verified Twitter account Wednesday to say the university canceled her speech, but UC Berkeley said it had never been officially scheduled.

Bill Maher may not be a fan of Coulter politically, but he certainly is not one who supports this nonsense. On his show Real Time, he described the school as devolving from being a cradle for free speech into a “cradle for f**king babies.”

“This goes on all over the country on campuses. They invite someone to speak, who is not exactly what liberals want to hear, and they want to shut her down. I feel like this is the liberals’ version of book burning. It’s got to stop.” Maher said.

The University of California, Berkeley, erupted into near-riots in February during protests against professional provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos and again last week over President Donald Trump. When political scientist Charles Murray spoke last month at Middlebury College in Vermont, protesters got so rowdy that a professor accompanying him was injured. More and more American universities are avoiding controversial speech altogether by banning polarizing speakers.

The YAF and Berkeley College Republicans have filed a lawsuit that accuses the school of discriminating against conservative guest speakers by placing burdensome time and location restrictions on their appearances. Berkeley, known for decades as a bastion of free speech, has seen protests turn violent in recent months.

It’s a shame that Berkeley, once the birthplace for a generation’s free speech movement, has become its graveyard.

Ann Coulter cancels Berkeley, says decision 'a dark day for free speech in America'