The bill was sent by the university to Turning Point USA for security fees at two small campus events.
Last fall, TPUSA hosted a speaker to present a talk attended by about 50 people. Prior to the event, TPUSA discussed security concerns with a UT police sergeant and campus administrators, and the campus police initially informed the student group that the event would require at least two off-duty officers, the charge of which is “historically…borne by the organization sponsoring the event.”
TPUSA Vice President Carlos Turcios e-mailed the police sergeant asking for a quote for two officers for three hours, and the sergeant responded saying the rates were variable, but averaged $72.82 per hour per officer. Turcios and university representatives never agreed on the number of officers or that TPUSA would pay for any number of officers the university decided to send to the event.
Alliance Defending Freedom is challenging the charge. Senior Counsel Caleb Dalton said, “Charging over $28,000 for two small events is prohibitively expensive speech—not free speech.”
ADF claims the high fees were the result of fear over how others might react to TPUSA’s speech.
Dalton called it “heckler’s veto”.