Meet a CCF Minion

Rick Berman doesn't always speak for himself. Sometimes newspapers publish articles and opinion pieces penned by Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) Managing Director Will Coggin, who has been working for Berman since 2013, defending the CCF and its many shadow organizations.

Media outlets reported that as a freshman at the College of William & Mary, Coggin cofounded a libertarian group called the Sons of Liberty, which quickly became embroiled in a dispute over a bake sale at the University Center on campus. The group held the sale in protest of affirmative action programs. Coggin explained, "We had different prices based on your race, and it went progressively down for Asians, Blacks, Hispanics." During the sale, Coggin also played the game "Ghettopoly," a Monopoly spoof that, instead of the traditional top hat, dog, and shoe icons, featured a pimp, marijuana leaf, crack cocaine pebble, and machine gun. When the vice president of student affairs called the stunt a blatant violation of the student handbook policies, Coggin conceded, "I guess by the technical, legal definition we did discriminate."

While in college, Coggin was also the editor of a student libertarian newspaper, The Remnant. A woman who reported that she had been raped sued Coggin and the paper for "embarrassment, humiliation and mental suffering" following information that the paper had published about her implying that she was lying. After the rape charges were dropped, Coggin and other newspaper staff members posted fliers on campus and material on The Remnant's website that revealed the woman's name and address. The Nation admonished the paper, writing, " [The College of William and Mary Vice President of Student Affairs Sam] Sadler … responded to concerns that the controversy would deter future victims of sexual assault from coming forward and obtaining the help they need. But the actions of The Remnant had already successfully diverted attention from eliminating sexual assault and toward a debate about free speech and the campus judicial system. … In addition to dealing with the trauma of sexual assault, William and Mary survivors have the extra burden of fearing public retaliation."