Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz stated today that if Berkely does not change the guidelines for speakers he may very well take them to court.
“So we have the eight-week barrier. Whereas anti-Israel speakers don’t have the eight-week barrier, and I’m going to sue Berkeley if they don’t allow me to speak. They may make me wait eight weeks and allow anti-Israel speakers to come within three or four days. That’s a lawsuit,” he said.
The “eight-week rule” is a delay for campus speakers that they deem as “high profile”
“Berkeley is a public university. Taxpayer’s money. They are bound by the First Amendment. So they can’t impose one rule on pro-Israel speakers and one rule on anti-Israel speakers,” he said. “The student are reacting because they’re telling me that they’re being denied the opportunity to listen to speakers that they want to hear.”
According to Dershowitz, the protests largely have nothing to do with with the subject at hand and more so is a way to shut down speech.
“It has nothing to do with the argument … it has nothing to do with what I’m saying. it’s just an attempt to shout me down.”
He alleges that if the college were to host a famous, progressive liberal left, actor, that person would never have to wait.
“They need to have a single standard and we’re going to hold them to it. And if they don’t abide by it, we are taking them to court.”
“I’m not going to let Berkeley get away with that. They’re a public university. They’re going to have to comply with the First Amendment. We are going to win this,” the professor concluded.
And I absolutely agree. Clinton, just as an example, would certainly be “high profile” but because of the public University’s obvious and outward left-bias, do you really think she would have to wait 8 weeks?
