Update on Coultergate: apparently she wimped out.
Conservative pundit was scheduled to speak at the University of Ottawa on Tuesday night. Anticipating her arrival, a school administrator sent Coulter a letter last week instructing her to use “restraint, respect and consideration” when coming to Ottawa. Well she never got to the point where restraint was necessary. According to an Associated Press article, Coulter canceled:
A spokesman for the organizers said Coulter was advised against appearing after about 2,000 “threatening” students crowded the entrance to Marion Hall, posing a security threat.
“It would be physically dangerous for Ann Coulter to proceed with this event,” said conservative political activist Ezra Levant inside the hall. “This is an embarrassing day for the University of Ottawa and their student body . . . who chose to silence her through threats and intimidation.”
Well I’m not sure silence is really the right word, since Coulter, whose tour called “Political Correctness, Media Bias and Freedom of Speech,” apparently managed to say a great deal. According to an article in the Washington Times, Coulter then called the University of Ottawa “bush league,” explaining:
“I go to the best schools, Harvard, the Ivy League and those kids are too intellectually proud” to threaten speakers. At the University of Ottawa, “their IQ points-to-teeth ratio must be about 1-to-1,” she said.
While Coulter’s never been threatened by students at “the best schools” (or even, technically, the University of Ottawa), she hasn’t exactly been warmly received. In 2004 Phillip Smith and William Wolff threw custard cream pies at Coulter when she spoke at the University of Arizona.
It’s unclear whether Coulter still got her roughly $30,000 speaking fee for the canceled Ottawa appearance.
