By Christopher Mateo
Editor-in-Chief
University Counsel Chelsea Epps responded on Sept. 22 to the College Republicans’ letter sent to CSU Bakersfield on Sept. 20.
The letter the College Republicans sent to CSUB was written by CEO of Freedom X, William J. Becker, Jr.
Freedom X is a conservative nonprofit law firm.
The letter states, “It is our preliminary opinion that unless CSUB-CR’s (CSUB College Republicans) event is approved for the requested date of October 25, 2017, in the requested venue (Icardo center) that the university will have violated, at minimum, CSUB-CR’s constitutional rights.”
CSUB’s counsel has now responded stating in the letter, “Your letter is factually and legally inaccurate in several respects––but given the time sensitivity of this matter, I will limit my response to your key concern, namely that the University’s restriction on commercial events is a pretext for unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination.”
At this time the CSUB has not confirmed the event will take place.
According to the letter, CSUB will allow Milo Yiannopoulos to speak at CSUB, as long as the College Republicans comply with the procedures and policies of the the Events Policy and the Student Organizations Handbook.
One of the issues presented by CSUB to the College Republicans was the the organization would have to sell tickets in order to pay for Yiannopoulos $20,000 fee.
“Your client’s request to sell tickets for an event open to the general public is not permitted by the University policy. Your client may use University facilities to host the Yiannopoulos Event, provided that tickets are offered to the public at no charge.”
According to the letter if the organization does not have the sufficient funds to pay the $20,000 fee, CSUB has suggested to the College Republicans to work with the Office of Student Involvement to reschedule the event for a different date to better plan the event.
Since CSUB requires a minimum of 30-days’ notice of confirmation of an event, CSUB will allow a deadline extension.
“The University requires a minimum of 30-days’ notice of confirmation of an event to ensure adequate time for planning the event. However, given that the September 25 deadline falls on a Monday after the weekend, and in the interest of giving your client as much time as possible to work through the planning details, in this one and only instance, the University will extend the deadline to Friday, September 29, at 5:00 p.m. for your client to notify the University about its intent to hold this event on October 25, provide all required documentation, and confirm its compliance with applicable University policies and procedures.”
Director of Public Affairs and Communications Michael Lukens stated in an email, “The event is not confirmed. Until there is a signed contract, this is not a confirmed event.”
The event is reserved to happen on Oct. 25.
