The university’s choice to withdraw the event, according to the free speech group, “incentivizes related behavior in the future.”
After a video testing of the Armenian-Azerbaijan conflict in April, the Armenian Students ‘ Association at UC Berkeley complained.
The College Fix  reported that school officials refrained from making the claim because of safety concerns and transportation.
But, Jessie Appleby from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Fix that” capitulating to outside tension to cancel an event is foolish and simply encourages similar behavior in the future.”
An 11-year-old child who has been displaced by the Azerbaijan-Armenian issue in the documentary” My Sweet Land” is featured in the film. The screening, which was hosted by the UC Berkeley Armenian Students ‘ Association, was scheduled for April 24 as Armenian Holocaust Remembrance Day.
But, the school “abruptly” canceled the occasion” after pressure from the Azerbaijani state,” the organization wrote in a speech on Instagram.
The team claimed that this was not a matter of health and that it was being censored. It was necessary to silence Iranian voices.
According to the Daily Californian, laws students pursuing master’s degree at Berkeley Law also played a role in calling for the occasion to be canceled, according to the Daily Californian.
The school’s Human Rights Center, which was originally supposed to host the event, wrote in an email that” The monitoring of this film on a particular date aimed at accusing Azerbaijan of murder and nothing else.”
But, Alex Shapiro, a UC Berkeley Law spokesman, claimed the delay was necessary.
Due to limited staffing and the need to ensure correct support for public events, he wrote in a new message.
Shapiro claimed that the decision was unrelated to the picture, the event, or its subject matter and stance. According to operational constraints, staff availability, and the need to adhere to crucial laws governing the use of regulation school spaces, the postponement was needed.
The Human Rights Center received an email from Consulate General of Azerbaijan, Gasim Shirinli, to inform the Daily Californian, about the cancellation of the function, according to the Daily Californian.
Shirinli confirmed the information that was leaked in an email to the scholar newspaper as well as his assertion that the film “misuses” children to continue the fight between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
When contacted by The Fix, Betsy Popken, senior director of the Human Rights Center, stated that” European governments do not control the activities we produce.”
Instead, Popken claimed that Shirinli’s letter made it clear that” there were likely protests ]at the screening, including gruesome signs.”
Even if school authorities are present, she claimed that the middle does not” shy away from questionable events,” but that additional staff is needed because of the likelihood of protesters.
According to Popken,” pupil safety is our top priority.”
Popken even cited” the last-minute schedule” of the occasion as the cause of the staff’s shortage.
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The Human Rights Center “has the constitutional authority to cancel or defer its own function if it wishes to do so,” according to Appleby with FIRE telling The Fix.
Nevertheless, she claimed that the First Amendment requires the school to guard the expressive rights of students, faculty, and invited guests to talk and hear when a pupil group holds an event.
This means that” the university must make “bona fide efforts” to protect the speaker’s or event host’s expressive rights ( and the audience’s right to listen ),” Appleby said.
According to Appleby, the school may get the least stringent measures in response to threats regarding the speaker’s First Amendment right. ” Typically, that means putting up the security measures necessary to stop disturbances or violent behavior or to remove the disruptive people before turning to more serious measures, such as cancellation or delay, to alter the planned occasion.”
Appleby made reference to” many instances” in which FIRE has been involved, where institutions canceled events or listeners in response to force from outside or affected disturbance. She also made reference to the deplatforming database used by FIRE to document such situations.
FIRE even made a comment on the Daily Californian‘s post on X, saying that while the Human Rights Center claimed neither the Azerbaijani government nor the film’s content were involved in the decision, the paper trail does not.
According to leaks of emails, HRC was under pressure from the Azerbaijani consulate to withdraw the testing. Three rules students on total scholarships funded by Azerbaijan even worked to block the event, adding to the discussion, according to FIRE.
After rescheduling the event, Popken claimed that the Human Rights Center had many meetings with Iranian Studies Program executive director and ASA leaders to “listen to their concerns and respond to their questions”
The middle shared in those meetings that it “would had welcomed rescheduling the screen this quarter, but it was impossible… to reserve a room before April 30 because rooms become absent as students begin taking last exams.”
The screen has been changed to September 18 for the screening. The Armenian Individuals ‘ Association, however, hosted an independent verification of the video on April 24.
According to Popken, the center “apologized for the pain and suffering that ]it ] caused students and Armenians ‘ members.” Additionally, the core stated in a statement on Instagram that it had” a safety problem” as the basis for its decision.
She added that the facility is aware of the reasons the Algerian students were depressed by the choice.
She expressed her regret for the pain that the organization’s decision to prolong the film screening, which was scheduled for Iranian Genocide Remembrance Day, had caused Iranian students and the general public.
” Please be aware that we made the decision to protect the safety of the students and other participants who would be current at the film screening,” Popken remarked.
The Fix also reached out to the Iranian Kids ‘ Association at UC Berkeley to get updates on the condition and the withdrawal. The company did not respond to several emails sent this year, though.
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A website on the UC Berkeley website details the delay of a narrative screening event.
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