Instead of decrying the violent leftist thugs responsible for rioting over Milo Yiannopoulos' attempted speaking engagement and for shutting down an Ann Coulter event with threats of further violence, the UC Berkeley Chancellor ran to the pages of The New York Times to complain that the school itself is "under attack from both sides."
In an opinion piece Wednesday, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks whined that T"[t]he campus has become a magnet for groups who seek to use the site of the birth of the Free Speech Movement as a staging ground for violence and disruption." This is true, but the fact of the matter is that the groups threatening and committing violence and disruption are leftists. Dirks, however, blames both the "far right" and the "far left" equally:
Free speech may be the new clarion call of the far right, but the real subtext of those who try to disrupt institutions built on principles of openness and inclusion with violence is only barely disguised. Berkeley’s status as a symbol of free speech and protest makes it a tempting site for the staging of physical confrontations between both sides.
Referring to the recently-cancelled Ann Coulter appearance, Dirks claims that "People describing themselves as anarchists and anti-fascists openly threatened to prevent Ms. Coulter’s talk 'by any means necessary.' Right-wing groups threatened to appear on campus armed to ensure the opposite — they declared the event would be held 'by any means necessary.'”
Dirks complains helplessly that "[t]he far right accuses us of indoctrinating students into what they call a mind-set of 'political correctness.' The far left accuses us of allowing the promotion of ideas, such as intolerance and exclusion, which are at substantive odds with the inclusive principles of the campus community." If he thinks UC Berkeley stands for inclusive principles, he hasn't walked on his own campus lately alongside conservative or Jewish students.
These comments suggest that both sides are equally violent and equally to blame. In fact, conservatives are tired of being assaulted and harassed on campus by the black-masked thugs and rioters who appear any time a prominent conservative is invited to a campus, so some are preparing to fight back. If there were no leftist thugs, there would be no violence, period. If university students and administrations, particularly at the radical leftwing UC Berkeley, allowed conservative speakers and groups the same respect and rights as conservatives grant Progressives, there would be no issue. The violence and harassment stem 100% from the left. The defense of free speech, which Chancellor Dirks claims to champion, stems 100% from the right.
Newsflash, Mr. Dirks: your school is not under attack, much less "from both sides." It is conservative speakers and Republican student groups who are under attack, and the radicalism of your school is largely to blame for that.