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SALT LAKE CITY — An evening of protesting around conservative commentator Ben Shapiro's speech at the University of Utah was tense but largely peaceful, and cost just $25,000.
The school is calling it a success.
"This is what free speech looks like," said school spokesman Chris Nelson, saying both Shapiro and his critics made their points and remained safe in most part.
About 300 people marched on the University of Utah's campus and rallied outside Shapiro's speech Wednesday evening with chants of "Stand up, fight back" as the conservative commentator spoke to a group of 400.
Federal authorities, local police and university officers flanked the university auditorium and broke up two scuffles. The $25,000 tab for law enforcement was offset in part by departments volunteering help, said University Police Chief Dale Brophy. Policing a home football game costs the same amount, he said.
Shapiro told his audience the need for amped-up police presence was "pathetic," even though he was grateful officers were risking their own safety. The U.'s tab came in at a fraction of the $600,000 security cost for Shapiro's speech at the University of California, Berkeley earlier this month that led to nine arrests.
Outside his lecture, Shapiro's critics using a megaphone urged students and others to stand up against racism, bigotry and hatred.
"U. of U., let's be clear, Shapiro is not welcome here," the group chanted during the three-hour protest that was spirited, but calm.
Critics and supporters of Shapiro chanted over each other outside the auditorium, with cries of "Black lives matter" met by "All lives matter."
There were no outbursts in the auditorium, and the demonstration outside was largely peaceful. Still, authorities arrested one person for investigation of disorderly conduct and assault and cited another, Brophy said. One confrontation involved someone wielding a taser, and three others were handcuffed and released.
"I think it went very well,” Brophy said, saying his department would review the evening to help inform security for future events.
Brophy and other university administrators traveled to the Berkeley campus to research how to handle the speech that was hosted by the U.'s chapter of Young Americans for Freedom.
The University of Utah aimed to strike a delicate balance to protect protesters and people attending the speech by Shapiro while trying to avoid a "police state" atmosphere, Nelson told the Associated Press before Wednesday's event.
"There's no concern about peaceful protest, in fact we embrace and support it," Nelson said. "What we're preparing for is any violence, any type of clashes."
Officers in groups of a half-dozen stood along the march route, outside the auditorium and on the building's roof. Several had badges indicating they were from West Jordan, Cottonwood Heights and Utah Highway Patrol. Many received fist-bumps from protesters.
Some who spoke at the rally said Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire and former editor-at-large of Breitbart News, never should have been allowed to lecture at the public university.
"His speech has no place on our campus," student Dean Mathews told the group. "We cannot allow our campus to become a platform for his ideas."
Others implored the group to answer Shapiro's speech with messages of inclusion aimed at racial minorities, LGBTQ people and others.
About two-dozen people who supported Shapiro's speech convened on the steps outside the auditorium, with some holding signs that said "Conservative does not equal bigot" and "Snowflakes go home to mommy."
The counterprotesters exchanged words with the larger group, and a woman who was speaking with Shapiro supporters cried out, "you just called me an egg roll," adding the name calling was a slur directed at her. A man replied, "I can say whatever I want. That's what makes America great" before quickly leaving the area.
Sara Kang, the protester, said she was shaken because "when minorities are under attack, people don't think it's a big deal, because it doesn't affect them."
Kang continued: "We just have to live with it. That's why it hurts me."
About 8 p.m., a scuffle broke out near the auditorium that was barricaded and surrounded by police, and officers rushed a man away from the crowd that largely dissipated by 9 p.m., after the speech ended.
M.J. Powell, a University of Utah freshman from Salt Lake City, said he has felt the sting of racism as a black man but thought the division on display Wednesday was discouraging.
"It kind of saddens me when you have two sides yelling and screaming and nothing's getting done," he told a reporter. "There's further division."
Peter Smith, who was wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cap, said he came to support Shapiro, with whom he generally agrees.
"He's got a right to say what he's got to say," Smith said.
Contributing: Ashley Stilson
