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Sure, it's still summer. But the University of California, Berkeley, site of intense debates over free speech and campus security during the last academic year, is being hit with the first such debate for the coming academic year. Young America's Foundation and Berkeley College Republicans have accused the university of blocking an appearance by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro. The groups requested a specific time and date -- the evening of Sept. 14. The university said that there is no lecture hall on that date that meets the size requirements of the student groups, who expect hundreds to attend. "Berkeley’s inability to find a lecture hall more than two months in advance is laughable," the two groups said in a statement.
Berkeley released emails between its officials and the student groups. Those emails rejected the time proposed but offered several other times in early September and noted the security concerns that the university faces. The university is pushing for times in the afternoon, but the student groups want a time in the evening.
