DPS postpones Dave Rubin speech at USC indefinitely due to security concerns
They wanted armed security for the ‘controversial’ speaker and former Young Turks commentator
The Department of Public Safety has caused The Young Americans for Liberty chapter at USC to postpone indefinitely a speaking engagement by Dave Rubin, the host of The Rubin Report, former commentator for the Young Turks and a classical liberal thinker and satirist.
According to an email provided by USC YAL President Chad Lonski, DPS said that they would need to have two armed guards “trained in dealing with potential disruptions or protests.” YAL would have to front the costs as well. For two DPS officers, it would cost $67.50 and they would have to work a minimum of four hours. That’s a total of $540.
“We don’t want security because of the high cost and it sets a precedent for something that we don’t feel is that big of an issue,” Lonski said. He had offered, as per the recommendation of the producer of the Rubin Report, David Janet, that there would be bag checkers at the entrance.
DPS’s Threat Assessment Detective determined that Rubin’s controversial history “may present security issues,” that a bag checker would not be able to solve. Rubin says he is a classical liberal thinker, though he has recently distanced himself from progressive liberals, who he refers to as regressive. In a recent PragerU video called “Why I Left the Left,” Rubin said that “the regressive left ranks minorities in a pecking order to compete in a kind of oppression Olympics.”
It doesn’t initially appear that any of Rubin’s speeches have caused any violent protests anywhere close to the one that happened in Berkeley earlier this month when Milo Yiannopoulos arrived on campus. When Rubin spoke at UCLA the same day he said he saw “a couple of protesters.”
Last year, when he interviewed Yiannopoulos at UCLA, the result was different. Scuffles broke out and protesters blocked the entrance to the auditorium.
At USC, Rubin will discuss how Democrats allowed Trump to win if YAL are allowed to follow through with the event or receive enough funding to pay for armed guards, Lonski said.
Jake Leventhal, sophomore majoring in computer science, originally contacted Rubin for a speaking engagement last semester before finals. Originally Leventhal organized the event on his own. However, he needed to be part of an organization for funding, so he landed with YAL. He said that he connected with Rubin’s belief systems and wanted to see him at USC.
“I really value how he is a champion of free speech and he isn’t accepting of the mainstream left agenda of shutting down ideas that you don’t believe in or shutting down debate,” said Leventhal.
DPS and YAL are still negotiating security. Lonski will meet with the e-board to determine a date and decide on their next action.