On the 2nd of February 2017 Milo Yiannopoulos was due to talk at UC Berkeley. Unfortunately, instead of being allowed to talk and have students engage in debate with him about his political and social views, UC Berkeley students chose to violently riot, assault their fellow students who showed up to hear Yiannopoulos speak and suppress free speech.

All universities should be a platform to champion the ideals of democracy and free speech in the forms of open debate and sharing of ideas, not to be a breeding ground for violent intolerance and fear mongering. Federal funding should not be allocated to any institution that espouses bigotry and intolerance in any shape or form and UC Berkeley should be held accountable to the same standards as everyone else.