DePaul will pick up security costs after protests erupted Tuesday and canceled an event featuring a controversial conservative speaker.
On Tuesday, Milo Yiannopoulos, a technology reporter for Breitbart and a self-proclaimed “internet supervillian,” visited DePaul in an event hosted by DePaul’s College Republicans. However, 15 minutes in, protesters stormed the stage, creating chaos.
The event was eventually canceled after Yiannopolos and his supporters marched around DePaul’s campus, leading to the Student Center to also be shut down.
“Because the university canceled the event for safety reasons, the university will cover all costs for security,” Gene Zdziarski, the vice president for Student Affairs, said.
The university will cover the costs for 15 security guards. Yiannopoulos and members of the College Republicans were upset after a last minute notice from DePaul that the event would need additional security guards after initially agreeing on nine.
Yiannopoulos said he covered the cost of the extra security, which Nicole Been, president of the College Republicans, said was an extra $840, but the university also said that no one had yet to be invoiced for the event. Been said the total amount to bring Yiannopoulos to DePaul totaled around $2500 on their end, which included his flights and the initial cost for security.
Been could not be immediately reached for comment, but said Thursday they wanted their money back. At the time, she said they were exploring legal action.
“We feel like (Public Safety) didn’t do their job,” Been said. “It wasn’t right … He was only able to speak for 20 minutes. It was supposed to be a 90 minute event.”
Correction: a previous version of this article stated that DePaul would be covering the cost for 24 security guards, when the groups agreed on 15 security guards.