Campus & community, Campus news

Statement reaffirming campus's commitment to free speech

By Public Affairs

The following is a statement from UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof:

The afternoon of Feb. 19 began like any other on the UC Berkeley campus. Spread across Sproul Plaza were dozens of tables where many of the university’s 1000-plus student groups, representing a full array of beliefs, interests, and ideologies, engaged in advocacy and outreach, all of them equally supported, respected and welcome by the campus administration.

Shortly after 3 p.m., an individual who was a member of the public passed through this open marketplace of ideas and got into an altercation with a representative of the Leadership Institute, a program that partners with the conservative organization, Turning Point USA. Neither the assailant nor the Turning Point USA representative has an affiliation with the university. A video of the encounter showed the individual assaulted the Leadership Institute representative and then fled the campus.

None of this is disputed, but what followed, in terms of the campus’s ensuing words and deeds, as well as the actions of the University of California Police Department, has been willfully distorted and inaccurately reported.

This is what occurred:

Immediately after the incident, this message was sent to campus by UCPD:

Wednesday February 20, 2019, 1:52 PM
University of California Police Department, Berkeley
Community: UCPD asks the Public’s Help to Identify Battery Suspect