UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ sent out an email this week in which she encouraged students to protest before Wednesday night’s campus event featuring Ann Coulter.
According to a report by Campus Reform, UC Berkeley Chancellor Carol Christ sent an email to students in which she encouraged students to attend a protest event that was scheduled to take place prior to Ann Coulter’s Wednesday night lecture.
“Hatred is antithetical to belonging, to respect, to understanding, and to learning itself. We must defend our commitment to diversity and inclusion by remaining united in our condemnation of abhorrent ideologies that promote hatred on the basis of an individual’s origins or identity,” the email read.
The email included a list of events that were taking place during the region’s “United Against Hate” week. The list encouraged students to attend a protest against Ann Coulter’s Wednesday night lecture, which took place on UC Berkeley’s campus.
Some Twitter users estimated that as many as 500 people attended the protest against Coulter’s visit to UC Berkeley.
UC Berkeley College Republicans Vice President Rudra Reddy condemned Christ’s decision to use words like “hate” to describe the Coulter event.
“The real danger is members of the community using nebulous terms like ‘hate’ to encompass mainstream conservative positions, including placing restrictions on immigration in the national interest, and then arguing for the censorship of those points of view in the interest of public safety,” Reddy told the UC Berkeley student newspaper. “It is also a very convenient coincidence that these rallies should fall on the week we are hosting Ann Coulter. Regardless, we are undeterred and the event will go on as scheduled.”