On Friday, Young America’s Foundation (YAF) and Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) announced that the university was once again dragging its feet on preparations for Ben Shapiro’s event — the first conservative speech on campus since Antifa’s leftist blockade of the campus. The event is scheduled for September 14 at 7:00 p.m. at Zellerbach Hall. But the administration has refused to release tickets until at least the end of next week.
In the meantime, YAF is encouraging all students and members of the community interested in attending, to complete this ticket request form to be the first notified when tickets are available from Berkeley through the Zellerbach box office.
This is hardly the first hold-up Berkeley has presented to Shapiro’s speech. As YAF states, “The dirty tricks and double-speak are so frequent that it is important to recount them.” Here’s their list:
- More than two months in advance of Shapiro’s lecture, Berkeley administrators claimed they were “unable to identify an available campus venue” despite “extensive efforts.” It was only when YAF and BCR exposed their suspicious claim to the press that Berkeley discovered the availability of Zellerbach, one of the largest venues on campus.
- Administrators were proud to claim to the press they were waiving all fees to allow YAF and BCR access to the largest venue on campus, Zellerbach Hall. Yet, upon agreeing to use the venue, Berkeley charged BCR a $15,738 security fee. It should be noted that when Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor spoke to a full house in the same venue, the hosting organization was charged $5,000.
- Similarly, despite Berkeley’s boasts that they waived fees to allow for Shapiro to speak on campus, they have not offered in any recent case to assist with the honoraria for Ben Shapiro, Ann Coulter, or David Horowitz. Thankfully, Young America’s Foundation’s generous supporters were able to fund each of these events.
YAF has already filed a lawsuit against Berkeley based on their unwillingness to protect an Ann Coulter event in 2017.
Please make sure to use this ticket request form and reserve your ticket!
