‘Free Speech for Me, Free Speech for Thee’

On Feb. 1, UC Berkeley police canceled a College Republicans-sponsored speech by Breitbart editor and alt-right supporter Milo Yiannopolous, citing concerns over protests that grew increasingly violent. School officials say the mayhem was caused by black-clad rioters unaffiliated with the university. However, hundreds of other people on campus that night, and in petitions for weeks before, called for the event’s cancellation, raising questions about who is allowed to say what and where on campus. Reporter Reis Thebault talks with First Amendment experts and a Berkeley alum, who spent her college years fighting for students’ right to political expression, in a story of free speech’s past, present, and its future.

Editor’s note: Since this story was recorded, Yiannopolous has seemingly provoked too far, making comments that condone pedophilia and laughign off sex abuse by Roman Catholic Priests. He resigned from Breitbart amid the controversy. It is unclear whether Berkeley’s College Republicans will invite him back, but, as UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks said in a letter to the university, Yiannopolous was not the first of his ilk to come to campus, and he will not be the last.