Noel C. Cilker

The furor over Ann Coulter's canceled speech at UC Berkeley seems to have mostly died down for now. Though she was rescheduled to speak at Berkeley on May 2, Coulter vowed to speak on April 27, the originally scheduled date. Demonstrators on both sides arrived from up and down the west coast expecting a confrontation, but Coulter didn't show. In a remarkable turn of events, the demonstrations were peaceful. Peaceful demonstrators engage in conversation during the protest in Berkeley on April 27.   Daphne White The free speech debate, however, goes on. In the Washington Post , Pranav Jandhyala, a UC Berkeley freshman who founded BridgeUSA at Berkeley and worked with the College Republicans to bring Coulter to the campus, explained his reasons : "Coulter’s ideas have an audience, and though most members of our group don’t agree with her, we recognize the following she draws. We also understand that many see her as an inflammatory figure with destructive belie...

There's trouble in the home of free speech. Ann Coulter , a controversial conservative author and political commentator, had been invited to speak on April 27 by the UC Berkeley College Republicans. But then the Berkeley administration stepped in and canceled it. Ann Coulter.   Chip Somodevilla, Getty Images On the surface it looked like a brazen political act. The city of Berkeley, after all, is considered one of the ten most liberal cities in the U.S, and the university was the epicenter of the Free Speech Movement in 1964. Naturally, many on the right have cried foul. Ron Robinson, Young America's Foundation president: "Berkeley disappoints anyone who really believes in free speech. Their actions to ban conservatives while giving leftists a platform reinforces this fact." Some on the left agree. Robert Reich, Berkeley professor: "This is a grave mistake. Coulter should be allowed to speak. How can students understand the vapidity of Coult...