Administrators at Columbia University have announced that they will cover the security costs for any events featuring controversial guest speakers.
Columbia University administrators have committed themselves to covering security costs for campus events that will demand a significant security presence. The new policy comes following an October 2017 demand from the Columbia University Black Students’ Organization that the school’s College Republican chapter be defunded.
The demand came in response to two events organized by the College Republicans group that featured commentators Tommy Robinson and Mike Cernovich. One student council member suggested that the College Republicans should be required to have each of their invited speakers approved by the student government before the event could go forward.
“Beginning in the 2017-2018 academic year, for those events sponsored by recognized undergraduate student groups that the University Event Review determines to require the presence of university delegates, security costs and security-related facilities costs for the events will not be charged to student activities fees, but instead these costs will be fully covered by the University,” the statement read.
Nathan Rosin, the president of the Columbia College Student Council, claimed that the new policy will prove beneficial.
“It’s a really big win for us because those events are just a huge financial burden,” Rosin said. “[It] means that it won’t be affecting any future student programming.”