BERKELEY — A UC Berkeley spokesman said the university has been working with a student organization that plans to bring conservative authors and provocateurs Milo Yiannopoulos and Ann Coulter, as well as recently resigned White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, to campus next month.

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Recently hired CSU professor admits pretending to be a person of color As part of a “free speech week” gathering Sept. 24-27 at UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza, a registered student organization called Berkeley Patriot has been negotiating terms for the trio, two of whose speeches earlier this year were canceled by protests.

“They have been good collaborators and attentive to policy,” UC spokesman Dan Mogulof said late Wednesday of Berkeley Patriot, a registered student organization listed as a publication.

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“They’re good communicators, clearly interested in doing what they can to work with the campus to have their events be successful and safe.”

In a statement Wednesday to the campus community, university Chancellor Carol Christ reiterated an ongoing commitment to free speech as a core principle of the academic institution.

“The university has the responsibility to provide safety and security for its community and guests, and we will invest the necessary resources to achieve that goal,” Christ said in part.

“If you choose to protest, do so peacefully. That is your right, and we will defend it with vigor. We will not tolerate violence, and we will hold anyone accountable who engages in it.”

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Yiannopoulous shared the text of Christ’s letter, adding: “What a difference six months make! Let’s hope Berkeley sticks to this commitment to free expression.”

At this point, Yiannopoulos is the only confirmed speaker.

“The university has received some mixed signals regarding who is coming in late September and at this point all we can confirm is Mr. Yiannopoulos and we’re going to leave it to the student group hosting this even to provide clarity and confirmation about any other speakers,” Mogulof said Thursday.

The student organization declined to comment Thursday regarding whether Coulter and Bannon will be on campus.

Mogulof said commenters outside the university have continued to question the university’s choices without considering the legal ramifications.

“We get a lot of requests that we simply stop inviting these speakers,” Mogulof said.

“It is absolutely clear that it is first and foremost, a matter of law that groups have an undeniable right to bring speakers of their choice, given their legal autonomy. At UC, registered student organizations are separate legal entities from the campus. It’s not the university bringing these groups to campus.”

Mogulof also addressed a separate complaint by the Berkeley College Republicans about a $15,000 security fee over the group’s plan to bring former Breitbart News editor-at-large and current Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro to campus.

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“They knew as soon as they said that we want to have capacity crowd,” Mogulof said, adding that the university is paying the full rental cost for the venue, Zellerbach Hall, and that security costs were based on a formula calculated by campus police criteria.

“They knew before it what the fee would be, because they have it in writing. You can substantiate it, it’s not he-said she-said.”

Contact George Kelly at 408-859-5180.