toxic speech out for what it is, don't shout it down, for in shouting it down, you collude in the narrative that universities are not open to all speech. Respond to hate speech with more speech"; and, president of the University of California system, Janet Napolitano, said: "I think some of these speakers are coming deliberately to provoke ... a response. But nonetheless they're coming to speak, they're coming to put forward controversial and noxious ideas. Colleges and universities are places where noxious ideas are expressed. So how you ... protect that value, that's the challenge that we face." September 14 On September 14, conservative radio host Ben Shapiro gave a speech at the campus, which was covered by a crew for the political documentary No Safe Spaces. No one wearing masks or with weapons was allowed on campus, and the Berkeley City Council authorized the police to use pepper spray, a weapon that had been banned in the city for twenty years. The campus also set up concrete barriers and metal detectors, with a UC spokesman stating that about $600,000 was spent on security for Shapiro's speech. Hundreds gathered off campus at a "Refuse Fascism" rally to protest the event. Police made nine arrests; there was no major violence. September 24–27 A dozen commentators with right-wing political leanings, including Milo Yiannopoulos, Steve Bannon, Ann Coulter, Pamela Geller, David Horowitz, and Erik Prince, were extended invitations by the UC Berkeley student group Berkeley Patriot to participate in what it terms "Free Speech Week" in Berkeley September 24–27. Nearly two hundred professors and graduate students signed the open letter "Boycott the Alt-Right @UCBerkeley" calling for a boycott of campus for the four days of the planned events to ensure community members' "physical and mental safety". A UC Berkeley spokesman stated that the cost of security for Free Speech Week will exceed $1 million. Prior to the slated event, some students members of Berkeley Patriot filed a complaint with to the US Department of Justice alleging, among other things, that the university had "arbitrary and irrational bureaucratic hurdles on student groups which seek to exercise their First Amendment rights by holding public debates." Having not signed contracts with various invitees for them to appear and having already backed out of its only reserved, indoor venues, on September 23, Berkeley Patriot officially notified the campus that they were canceling all Free Speech Week