UC Berkeley is now bracing for protests and beefed-up security as conservative students move forward with a Turning Point USA event that was meant to feature Charlie Kirk before his assassination. University officials say they are taking precautions and treating the gathering as a major event, but their public silence on exact security plans only fuels suspicion that campus administrators are more comfortable policing conservative speech than protecting it.
Conservative students at Berkeley report a hostile atmosphere where simple advocacy for free markets and patriotism is met with labels like “fascist” and worse, and the chapter president says the assassination of Kirk has only hardened their resolve. These young Americans are showing up anyway, refusing to be bullied off campus by a political culture that tolerates doxxing and intimidation when it’s aimed at the right people.
The university has quietly put in place measures like no-bag policies and heightened campus police coordination, which is sensible after a tour stop turned deadly this fall, but it’s alarming that administrators feel they must cloak details rather than publicly defend free speech uncompromisingly. Students and parents deserve transparency: if the school is serious about campus safety and free expression, it should advertise clear protections for ordered, peaceful participation rather than playing arm’s-length games.
Make no mistake, Berkeley’s climate didn’t overnight become tense because conservatives suddenly misbehaved — decades of leftist intolerance toward dissenting views have produced the confrontations we see. From table-busting and assault to symbolic attacks on conservative recruiting, the pattern is clear: certain campuses have become battlegrounds where one side enjoys social impunity while the other risks real harm for speaking. Conservatives are right to demand that law enforcement and school leaders treat political violence with the same seriousness regardless of who the target is.
Meanwhile, New Yorkers are watching national chaos creep into City Hall with the election of Zohran Mamdani, and Jewish organizations have loudly warned they will hold his administration to account over a record critics say includes hostile rhetoric toward Israel and concerning associations. The election exposed fault lines in the city and prompted civil-society groups to prepare monitors and tip lines to track any actions that could threaten Jewish residents’ safety.
Those worries are not partisan paranoia; major Jewish advocacy groups have publicly announced plans to scrutinize appointments and policies coming out of City Hall and to demand accountability if antisemitic double standards take root. Conservatives who cherish both free speech and the safety of religious minorities should stand shoulder to shoulder with those groups in insisting on clear, enforceable protections from any mayor, regardless of ideology.
If there’s one lesson here for Americans who love liberty, it’s this: institutions that promise open debate must mean it, even when the ideas on stage make them uncomfortable. Universities and city leaders should stop performing neutrality and start defending the people who are being shouted down and threatened on the basis of their beliefs.
Patriotic students and everyday New Yorkers aren’t asking for special treatment; they want equal protection and an end to the selective outrage that punishes dissenting speech while giving cover to those who push intolerance. It’s time for principled leadership, from campus police to city hall, to protect Americans’ rights to speak, worship, and assemble without fear.
