A judge has decided a university was justified in moving an event by conservative commentator Ben Shapiro to a smaller venue for safety concerns, according to reports.
Shapiro, a lawyer, former Breitbart editor and author of several books, was scheduled to speak at the University of Minnesota in February 2018.
The group that requested Shapiro’s appearance, Students for a Conversative Voice, requested the use of a large, 1,000+ seat venue on the Minneapolis campus. However, University officials at the time decidedthe event needed to be held at a venue on the St. Paul campus that seats less than 500 people because of security concerns.
The student group claimed in their lawsuit against the university the venue change resulted in limiting the number of people who could attend and denying them the ability to participate in the event.
A judge on Friday threw out the lawsuit, according to the Pioneer Press, saying the university had legitimate safety concerns because of other incidents after Shapiro events on other campuses.
Large crowds of protesters have appeared at Shapiro events, some resulting in arrests. At a September 2017 event in Berkeley, California, part of the area around campus was closed down and barriers erected to handle demonstrators; several people were arrested during the incident.
The University of Minnesota reportedly spent $15,000 on security for their event in February 2018.
