Students Petition CU Chancellor To Keep Speaker Off Campus
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4)- Some students at the University of Colorado Boulder campus have signed petitions to keep a scheduled speaker from spreading his message. Some claim it's not free speech but hate speech.
The speaker, Milo Yiannopoulos, a journalist with Breitbart News, a far right news and opinion website, has been banned from Twitter following what the social media site claims were offensive and racist tweets.
Yiannopoulos is scheduled to speak at the CU campus on Jan. 25, 2017 in a tour named with a gay slur.
While some students say they recognize the right to free speech, they have expressed concern over the views Yiannopoulos touts.
"In a place that is supposed to foster acceptance and individuality, I don't think it's appropriate for an individual to spread messages of hate," said one CU student.
Those concerns were presented to the administration but there are no plans to cancel the appearance.
"The event will go on as planned because he was invited by two of our student organizations and we value free speech," said the CU spokesman.
CU plans to have additional police and security personnel at the event.