College Republicans Score a Win at UC Irvine

The UC Irvine chapter of College Republicans scored another victory this week when UCI agreed to provide a suitable venue for them to host Milo Yiannopoulos. Previously, UCI had assigned CR a room that was unable to accommodate the hundreds of people who tried to get in to see Yiannopoulos. (I know. I was one of them.)

In response, CR enlisted the help of Attorney Bill Becker of Freedom X, who sent a letter to UCI-described below (from CR Facebook page).

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That resulted in.....

UCI COLLEGE REPUBLICANS

As we reported in an earlier eblast this week, we had delivered a letter to the University of California at Irvine in Orange County demanding the University justify its refusal to grant the College Republicans chapter permission to rent out a large venue to the group for events featuring Milo Yiannopolous and Dennis Prager.  We also demanded that the University explain why it would not allow the events to take place in the evening and were insisting they be scheduled during the day when students are still in classes and the general public is at the office. (Read the Orange County Register’s article here)

Last year, Freedom X similarly intervened on behalf of the College Republicans chapter at Cal State Fullerton to resolve security issues for a Yiannopolous event. Our help made all the difference for the college group. But the same problem crops up every year, and so Freedom X President/Chief Counsel Bill Becker sought a meeting with UCI campus administrators to discuss the College Republicans’ concerns and to foreclose a potential lawsuit alleging First Amendment free speech and Fourteenth Amendment equal protection violations against the school.

We are pleased to report that the meeting went extremely well and that UCI has backed off its demands. It has even offered the College Republicans use of its largest venue, the Bren Events Center, at a reduced cost and will allow them to be evening events. We wish to thank Lt. Anthony Frisbee and Sgt. Bob LeSage of the UCI Police Department for making these concessions possible. 
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 I'm afraid this is what it takes to get the universities to sit up and take notice. Like many CR$ chapters around the country, the UCICR is to be commended for their courage and perseverance.