UC Davis College Republicans pulled the plug on a January 13 speaking event featuring far-right firebrand Milo Yiannopoulos and pharmaceutical executive Martin Shkreli after protests against the duo's appearance overwhelmed campus security. The event was destined to court controversy - Breitbart editor Yiannopoulos is a vocal opponent of feminism and was banned from Twitter for conducting a harassment campaign against actress Leslie Jones; Shkreli came to prominence in 2015 for raising the price of a lifesaving drug that combats parasitic infections from $13.50 to $750 per pill in one day. He is currently out on bail for securities fraud. The College Republicans and UC Davis brass tell different versions of the day's events - Capitol Weekly sat down with Davis College Republican President Nicholas Francois and Executive Director Andrew Mendoza to talk about what happened -- and why they wanted to bring such controversial figures to speak on campus. A note: We conducted this interview on Friday, January 20; hours later a man was shot at a protest against Yiannopoulos' appearance that night at the University of Washington in Seattle.
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