University of Colorado at Boulder: Prohibitive Security Fee Charged for Controversial Speakers

After the University of Colorado at Boulder threatened to bill the Students for True Academic Freedom and other CU-Boulder clubs more than $2,000 for security for a controversial event featuring Ward Churchill and William Ayers as speakers, the organizers of the event came to FIRE for help. CU-Boulder spokesman Bronson Hilliard stated that Students for True Academic Freedom would be billed for security partly on the basis of a potentially hostile audience reaction to the speakers. The police security bill was going to be $2,203.42, plus fees for parking and building security. FIRE wrote to the University administration, explaining that requiring student organizations to pay for extra security is unconstitutional because it affixes a price tag to events on the basis of their expressive content. Soon after, CU-Boulder relented, and agreed that there should be no extra security fee for the event.

Case Materials

• "Victory for Freedom of Speech at University of Colorado at Boulder: University Lifts Financial Burden on Students Hosting Controversial Speakers Ward Churchill and William Ayers," April 20, 2009: The University of Colorado at Boulder has reversed a threat to charge excessively high security fees for a controversial event that included speeches by Ward Churchill and William Ayers. After the university threatened to bill the organizers more than $2,000 for security, the organizers of the event came to FIRE for help. 
• "E-mail from Deborah Coffin to Sean Daly ," April 13, 2009
• "E-mail from Sean Daly to Deborah Coffin," April 1, 2009
• "Response to FIRE from Deborah Coffin," March 30, 2009
• "FIRE Letter to Interim Chancellor Phil DiStefano," March 18, 2009
• "Controversial Speakers Face Huge Security Fees at Berkeley and Colorado," March 17, 2009: Open discussion of Israeli-Palestinian issues can now resume unburdened at the University of California at Berkeley, which has slashed a "security fee" that would have kept a controversial speaker off campus. Meanwhile, students at the University of Colorado at Boulder are nervously awaiting a promised $2,200 security bill for a speech by controversial professors William Ayers and Ward Churchill. Students at both universities have turned to FIRE for help.
• "Students In Standoff With CU Over Ayers, Churchill Event," ABC7 Denver, March 3, 2009
• "Appeal of Security Fee," March 3, 2009
• "Ward Churchill's attorney: CU fee for Bill Ayers visit," Colorado Daily, February 26, 2009

Blog Entries

• "Victory for Freedom of Speech at University of Colorado at Boulder: University Lifts Financial Burden on Students Hosting Controversial Speakers Ward Churchill and William Ayers," by Adam Kissel, April 20, 2009
• "Four FIRE Cases on Security Fees Top Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle," by Adam Kissel, March 31, 2009
• "Controversial Speakers Face Huge Security Fees at Berkeley and Colorado," by Adam Kissel, March 17, 2009

Media Coverage

• "Campus security bills for speakers challenged,"
  by Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 2009