The University of California, Berkeley released a defiant statement Saturday blasting critics of its commitment to free speech and the coverage from "certain quarters of the media world" of the assault of a conservative activist on its campus.
The university said in a lengthy statement from its public affairs office that the reporting on the Feb. 19 assault of Leadership Institute field representative Hayden Williams and the subsequent arrest of 28-year-old Zachary Greenberg had been "willfully distorted and inaccurately reported."
It recounted how the university police department sent a message to campus following the reporting of the assault and how the school released a statement condemning violence. It balked at people "around the country" assuming the assailant was a student and "armchair experts" expressing disbelief and anger over the suspect not being arrested more quickly:
In certain quarters of the media world theatrical outrage was expressed regarding the university’s supposed failure to prevent the criminal act in question. We readily admit that this university—like every single town, city, county, and state in this country—is unable to prevent a lone bad actor who was neither employee or student from engaging in reprehensible behavior on a campus spanning 1,200 acres and a population of 50,000 people.
We don’t see a way to do that, but that doesn’t mean our police force and the administration don’t awaken every morning trying their best to deter criminal behavior and keep our campus safe. That objective is supported by imposing appropriate consequences when rules and laws are violated, and we have done everything in our power to make sure that happens in this instance, as in all others. We have an excellent police force, dedicated to one thing: the safety and well-being of the campus community.
In the days that followed, armchair experts with seemingly little understanding of how a police department and the office of the local district attorney operate, or of the investigative norms that are applied to all cases, not to mention the details of this particular case, immediately expressed disbelief and anger that the suspect had not been arrested. These critics stated without substantiation that the delay was somehow due to the imputed political beliefs of the campus administration. In so doing, they willfully impugned the integrity and independence of the excellent officers of the UCPD who seek to uphold the law regardless of who the perpetrators are, or what they happen to believe in.
The university initially stated last Tuesday the investigation had been completed, but the Alameda County District Attorney's office told the Washington Free Beacon the following day the probe was ongoing. The university then confirmed the police were conducting additional investigative work to assess what charges should be filed. Greenberg was arrested and booked on Friday after what the university said was a "complex investigation."
Berkeley also blasted the "absurd allegations" questioning the university's commitment to free speech, pointing to the "incontestable fact" that it had hosted numerous conservative speakers without incident:
Finally, the absurd allegations regarding UC Berkeley’s support for free speech and all of its students, regardless of their perspectives, have no basis in fact. In the last year alone, this University spent more than $4 million to ensure that our conservative students could safely and successfully hold events on campus and invite speakers of their choice to these events.
Although we made every effort to inform the media, not a single outlet reported on the incontestable fact that these conservative student groups hosted a large number of conservative speakers, including Charlie Kirk (founder of Turning Point USA), Rick Santorum, Dennis Prager, Heather MacDonald, Candace Owens, Dave Rubin, Steve Simpson, Antonia Okafor and Allie Stuckey. Not a single disruption. No opposition. No protest. No coverage.
Our commitment to freedom of speech and belief is unwavering and no amount of incomplete, distorted news coverage is going to change that.
Berkeley couldn't comment on what made the investigation "complex" for fear of jeopardizing the case against Greenberg, but Vice Chancellor Dan Mogulof told the Free Beacon any outlets that claimed bias by the school against conservatives without noting the money it spent to feature conservative speakers weren't telling "the whole truth."
"Any outlet that claimed the campus administration has shown some sort of bias towards conservative students and or conservative thought without noting the amount of money the university has spent to ensure that events featuring a large number of conservative speakers could be held safely and successfully, was not telling the whole truth. Journalism demands balance, context, and a foundation built on facts," he said.
The school is well-known for its left-wing politics and incidents of radical "Antifa" violence in and around campus over the past, such as riots over the planned appearance of far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos. Both the site of the attack on Williams and the fact it was largely captured on camera led to the story gaining the attention of the national media and even the White House.
Tabling on behalf of the right-wing student group Turning Point on the campus's main plaza, Williams was accosted by two men who were angry about a sign referencing the Jussie Smollett hate crime hoax. One of them flipped over his table, shouted curses at him and punched him in the face, leaving him with a black left eye.
He told Fox News, before the arrest, that he hoped for due process for the suspect, and he also praised the university's police department. He criticized the school itself, though, for the culture of intolerance he said was prevalent there.
President Donald Trump invited Williams up to speak during his lengthy speech at CPAC on Saturday, praising the young activist for taking the punch well and encouraging him to sue his attacker, the university, and even the state of California. Williams thanked Trump and said he would continue to fight discrimination against conservatives on college campuses.
Berkeley College Republicans president Matt Ronnau, a junior, told the Free Beacon last week the school didn't do enough to keep conservatives safe when expressing their views. He said he's felt threatened while tabling in the plaza and even been spit on.
"It's the same thing every time when something like this happens. 'We affirm our right to free speech and this is bad,' but they don't really do anything about it," he said after the assault. "They haven't done anything really to address the problem and try to keep conservatives and Berkeley College Republicans from getting attacked when we express our viewpoint."