Trump reacts to violence at UC Berkeley

US President Donald Trump on Thursday morning hinted at cutting off federal funds to the University of California, Berkeley following Wednesday night's violent demonstration on the campus which got a conservative writer's speech canceled.

At the invitation of Berkeley College Republicans, Milo Yiannopoulos, a Breitbart News editor, was to give a speech at 8 pm on Wednesday. The event was canceled around 6 pm when a demonstration turned violent as protesters set fires and threw objects at the building.

The violence was instigated by a group of about 150 masked people who infiltrated the crowd of more than 1,500 peaceful students and used violent tactics to shut the event, according to the university.

"UC Berkeley condemns in the strongest possible terms the actions of individuals who invaded the campus," said UC Berkeley Chancellor Nicholas Dirks in a statement posted online Thursday.

"We deeply regret that the violence unleashed by this group undermined the First Amendment rights of the speaker, as well as those who came to lawfully assemble and protest his presence," Dirks added.

In response to the violent protest, Trump tweeted early Thursday morning: "If UC Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?"

The research enterprise of the UC system is heavily dependent on federal funding, and federal agency appropriations for research. In the 2013-14 fiscal year, UC statewide received an estimated $8.47 billion in federal support for UC and UC students, according to the UC budget summary of 2015-16.

In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2016, UC Berkeley attracted $673.9 million in new awards, 55 percent of which, or $370 million, was provided by the federal government.

Of the federal funds UC Berkeley received, the largest contributors are the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, which means, if the federal funds were cut, health-related research and basic research in physical, chemical and life sciences would be impacted.

Also facing an impact from Trump's threat of cutting federal funds are students. According to Berkeley's 2016-17 annual report, students received $39.4 million in federal Pell grants during 2015-16 fiscal year, and the number is projected to reach $42 million for this year.

The UC president's office and the UC Berkeley chancellor's office did not respond to requests for comment.

According to the Institute of International Education, in the 2014-2015 academic year, UC Berkeley has the 10th most Chinese students in the US.

In a tweet, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who represents the district Berkeley is in, said Trump's threat was "empty" and "an abuse of power".

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, said, "Berkeley is the center of the free speech movement. I think that the protesters have a right to free speech as well."

Yiannopoulos, known for his provocation of the left, said the protest was "heavily ironic and very, I think, self-defeating for the social justice left."

"They're absolutely petrified by alternative visions of how the world ought to look," he added.

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com