Arthur Lechtholz-Zey said he assumed his club would have to dig deep into its pockets to fund a debate on immigration that was planned for Tuesday night, but the UCLA Events Office and the Center for Student Programming tacked on a much larger bill than Lechtholz-Zey had expected.
Lechtholz-Zey, the chief executive officer of L.O.G.I.C., which stands for Liberty, Objectivity, Greed, Individualism and Capitalism, met Monday with UCLA administrators to discuss security issues before the event was canceled. UCLA maintains that L.O.G.I.C. canceled the event, but Lechtholz-Zey said UCLA pressured the club into canceling the debate.
L.O.G.I.C. had initially agreed to pay for four university police officers and four Contemporary Services Corporation officers, but was told Monday the club would have to provide extra security, including security for a protest planned outside the event, which would amount to $15,000.
UCLA determined extra security was necessary after the club was informed that Students for a Democratic Society and other groups planned to protest.
The group specifically planned to protest the appearance of Carl Braun, the executive director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of California, a group that regulates border security between California and Mexico. The other speaker at the event would have been Dr. Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Ayn Rand Institute.
The speakers at the event planned to discuss the economic impact immigrants have on the United States, as well as immigration and border policies.
L.O.G.I.C. is considering canceling the event rather than just postponing it, because the cost is too high.
At a past event at Columbia University, SDS members chased a minuteman speaker off the stage, which led Braun and UCLA to request more security for the debate at Monday’s meeting.
UCLA has no set guidelines for deciding which events require security but is currently developing one, said Mike Cohn, student affairs officer at the Center for Student Programming.
Nancy Greenstein, director of police community services at UCPD, said university police provides each student group with 12 free hours of security for each event where security is deemed necessary.
Lechtholz-Zey said that after meeting with UCLA he had no choice but to cancel the debate.
“(UCLA) made it seem like everyone would be better off without this event. They put a lot of pressure on us to cancel the event,” Lechtholz-Zey said.
He said he was told the debate had to have extra security, but UCLA would be unable to provide it, so there was no way to hold the event. He added that he believes UCLA is trying to make it seem like L.O.G.I.C. canceled the event.
“They want us to take the fall and that is unacceptable,” said Lechtholz-Zey, who will meet with Assistant Vice Chancellor for Student and Campus Life and Dean of Students Robert Naples, to resolve who will pay for security.
UCLA maintains it did not pressure L.O.G.I.C. to cancel, and UCPD Capt. John Adams said if the debate had not been canceled, they would have looked for staffing, possibly pulling staff from other campuses.
Cohn said UCLA wants L.O.G.I.C. to pay because in agreeing to hold events, the club also agrees to pay for security, whether there is an event or not.
Various student groups met where L.O.G.I.C. was going to hold their event to have a pro-immigration rally, despite the event’s cancelation.
“The protest is involved with their event. They have to ensure that their event is safe for everybody. If they choose to bring speakers that are controversial, then they have to be responsible for that. And that’s the standard for all campus organizations,” Cohn said.
Babken der Grigorian, co-chair of SDS, said that the club has reached its goal for canceling the meeting. The group was against the event, because they said the speech was hateful.