College Republicans Targeted with Death Threats, Violence, and Administrative Action for Hosting Conservative Speaker

UC Berkeley, home of the free speech movement, is attempting to intimidate and silence conservative voices after the Berkeley College Republicans hosted Michael Knowles. Some individuals are even calling to “Kill Donald Trump and all campus republicans.”

Three weeks ago on October 7th, the Berkeley College Republicans (BCR) hosted conservative speaker Michael Knowles on their campus to a packed house. Following the event, the chapter has been targeted by death threats and administrative action seeking to defund and ban their chapter from campus.

CONTRIBUTE: Student Legal Defense Fund

Michael Knowles is a well-known political commentator that works for The Daily Wire, a conservative media company founded by Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boreing. BCR invited Knowles to campus to give a speech on the harms of transgender ideology and the impact it has on children. BCR then advertised this event with posters titled “Eradicate Transgenderism.”

Transgenderism is a term used to refer to the school of thought or philosophy that sex is malleable — a philosophy that has increasingly advocated for puberty blockers and sex changes in children. But the ideology is separate from a transgender individual, and many proponents against transgenderism point this out in a “hate the sin, love the sinner” manner.

But this difference was lost on Berkeley students and administrators, who viewed the flyers as wanting to eliminate transgender individuals.

Following the October 7th event, members of the student government (ASUC) Senator Carlos González and Senator Ayden Reading issued a condemnation of BCR and the Knowles event and vowed to “hold [BCR] accountable.” They also expressed intention to remove BCR as a club on campus, and prohibit conservative speakers on campus, stating “we will be proposing a resolution to prevent any student organization from reserving campus space or allowing speakers to come on campus if their activities promote hate speech or create an unsafe environment for any students.”

The senators also alleged that “There is a critical difference between free speech and hate speech, and this is a clear example of hate speech.” However, even if the posters were ‘hate speech,’ hate speech is free speech, as the First Amendment protects freedom of speech even when it's offensive or hateful.

Martin Bertao, chairman of the California College Republicans and president of the chapter at UC Berkeley, says that he will “never cave to the radical left and their scare tactics.”

“With the conservative movement on campus stronger than it has ever been, it is no surprise that the radical left attempts to spread lies and contort our words to scare off dissent,” said Bertao.

UC Berkeley Chancellor Richard Lyons added fuel to the fire by putting out a public video stating he was “dismayed by recent posters calling for the elimination of transgender people.”

“To be clear, even terrifying rhetoric can be protected by the First Amendment … we need to stand up as a community and implore those who call for violence, who use threatening or hateful language, to consider the inherent danger in their words,” said Lyons.

But now Chancellor Lyons’ and the student senator's statements have turned into real calls for violence. Posters have been found around campus reading: “KILL DONALD TRUMP AND ALL CAMPUS REPUBLICANS”

This comes as multiple conservative students from the Berkeley TPUSA chapter were recently battered on campus by a student appearing inflamed by the rhetoric of the student government and campus administration.

According to Bertao, his College Republican chapter at Berkeley is prepared to explore legal avenues if needed to protect his members.

Bertao urges the public to contribute to the College Republicans urgently to fill our legal defense fund and help protect students on campus.

>> CONTRIBUTE: Student Legal Defense Fund

"Every dollar raised will help us protect students from this behavior and hold campus administrations accountable," said Bertao. “We will not back down, we will never surrender, and will continue to FIGHT to MAKE BERKELEY GREAT AGAIN!”

>> CONTRIBUTE: Student Legal Defense Fund

You can also contact Chancellor Richard Lyons at UC Berkeley by calling 510-642-2708 or emailing chancellor@berkeley.edu