Milo Tour Reveals Insidious ‘Security Fee Censorship’

Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ Dangerous Faggot Tour has given rise to a new form of campus censorship in the form of unusually high security fees which have made controversial events difficult for student groups to afford.

Although Yiannopoulos has traveled to dozens of colleges over the course of his popular Dangerous Faggot Tour, several stops have been canceled after student organizations were unable to afford outlandish event security fees imposed by school administrators. Last week, The Miami Herald reported that a tour stop at the University of Miami had been canceled due to “unspecified security concerns.”

Earlier this year, an event at DePaul University was almost canceled after the administration charged the students $1,000 for security. Although the fee was ultimately paid, administrators allowed student protesters to disrupt and derail the event without intervention from security.

The administration denied an attempt by the student group to plan a second event featuring Yiannopoulos. When asked about the decision, DePaul University’s Vice President of Student Affairs Eugene Zdziarski claimed that Yiannopoulos posed a legitimate security threat to the campus.

“Mr. Yiannopoulos’ words and behavior contained inflammatory-speech, contributed to a hostile environment and incited similar behavior from the crowd in attendance,” Zdziarski complained, blaming Milo for the actions of protesters who threatened to assault him. “In addition, he led an unapproved march through campus that created a potentially dangerous situation.”

It seems that university administrators have failed to realize that the precautions they must take when faced with a controversial guest lecturer are a result of the inability of their students to behave rationally in the face of opposing viewpoints. In asking student groups to pay for extra security for controversial speakers, administrators are asking groups to compensate for the university’s failures in prepare their students to engage with ideas that conflict with their own.

Tom Ciccotta is a libertarian who writes about Free Speech and Intellectual Diversity for Breitbart. You can follow him on Twitter @tciccotta or email him at tciccotta@breitbart.com