President Trump suggested eliminating the University of California, Berkeley’s federal funding after violent protests seized the campus and shut down Breitbart Tech editor Milo Yiannopoulos’ scheduled speech.
Before Yiannopoulos’ talk Berkeley’s chancellor, Nicholas Dirks, issued a statement claiming the school is bound by the First Amendment and could not cancel the speech, even though the university administration believes Yiannopoulos’ opinions contradict the values of the university. Dirks also stated the administration had pressured the College Republicans to convince them to cancel Yiannopoulos’ appearance by asserting his values contradict the values of the university (despite Berkeley being the home of the Free Speech Movement).
At the end of his statement, Dirks said he the school “encourage[s] those of you who wish to exercise your right to protest this event to review our standing suggestions regarding how to protest safely.”
Instead of protesting “safely,” protesters tore down barricades, destroyed buildings, and set the campus on fire: