So any speech by anyone must be allowed an audience and center stage at a

[PufPuf23]

106. I think Coulter and more so Milo are professional shit stirrers and have no favor in my view.

That said, if a speaker is invited to a campus venue, they should be allowed safe and secure passage.

This is not the same as "anyone must be allowed an audience".

I was an undergrad at Cal in the 1970s and a grad student in the 1980s.

I spent two years as a grad student as a Graduate Assembly delegate (graduate student government) and those two years on the Finance Committee, the 2nd as Finance Committee Chairman.

One of the main tasks was to approve grant requests from various grad student groups for activities and speakers. Back in the 1980s there was a wide variety of folks, some controversial, invited on campus. One thing was there was paid GA staff that actually went through the many grad student proposals. Nancy Skinner was the GA Executive Director then.

I assume that there is a similar method in place as there was 30 years ago regards events sponsored by student groups. My understanding is that Coulter (and Milo) were invited by the Campus Republicans. There was probably some level of review and debate (heated in these cases) before extending the invite. There are also no doubt policies regarding invites and campus security. Sometimes students do not agree with university administrators. In my time there was a strike for unionization of grad student TAs (that was supported by GA, some of leaders were GA delegates).

Also as a grad student I was part of several student clubs in my program that banded together to organize "mixers" where students needing masters projects mixed with folks who could provide projects and preferably paid internships. We charged fees to the folks looking at the students to be interviewed for invites to the "mixers" and also to pay for refreshments including wine (thus self funding) if they passed the first interview. The "mixers" were held in a lounge in the department building. It did not take long before we were invited to the Dean's Office and told we needed a faculty sponsor and other items were problematic for the university and department including serving of alcohol. But the student initiative was generally viewed with favor and continued. What started as a student club activity became part of the general program and was incorporated into course work several years later (one could argue coopted but that is a different issue).

I have not visited Berkeley since 2003. There is certainly still and was then tremendous diversity at the university and in the city of Berkeley. Folks confuse Berkeley citizens with Berkeley students. Many urban professionals have followed the gentrification. Attitudes vary between departments and over time. The university and Berkeley itself are magnets many people of strong opinion not just students.