"This will be a test for Berkeley," University of California President Janet Napolitano said. | Astrid Riecken/Getty Images Berkeley 'Free Speech Week' with Bannon will be costly, university president says

University of California President Janet Napolitano said Wednesday that the so-called Free Speech Week planned at Berkeley this month that will feature former White House strategist Steve Bannon will be an expensive test for the school that has become the center of debate over free speech on college campuses.

Napolitano said that her office, which oversees the University of California system, will take the unprecedented step of helping Berkeley cover the the "substantial" security costs. That protection is necessary to ensure free speech on campus, she said.


"This will be a test for Berkeley," she said. “It’s a cost that the university is bearing to protect the speakers but also to protect the value of free speech ... But the rock and the hard place that the campus is in, is the value of free speech versus the need to protect the safety and the security of the students and the faculty.”

Napolitano said security for a recent speech by conservative author Ben Shapiro cost the school $600,000. The event this month including Bannon and planned by far right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos is expected to be four days of similar security needs, she said. She would not provide an exact figure.

Bannon's appearance has been billed as "Bannon infiltrates Berkeley."

"I think some of these speakers are coming deliberately to provoke, and I think to provoke a response," she said. "But nonetheless they’re coming to speak, they’re coming to put forward controversial and noxious ideas, and, you know, colleges and universities are places where noxious ideas are expressed.

"So how you carry that out, protect that value — that’s the challenge that we face," Napolitano said. "That’s why I think it’s important that if these events are going to occur, that they be done safely and securely and, I think unfortunately that means universities bear the cost."

Still, the former Homeland Security secretary said she's confident the events will be as safe as the school can make them.

"I have been on the phone with the chancellor of Berkeley and their chief of police to go through the security planning and to satisfy myself that they’ve done as good a job as can be done under the circumstances and that they have the required manpower and equip to deal with what could happen," Napolitano said.

Kimberly Hefling contributed to this report.