Speaking with a confidence entirely her own, the fiery — and often controversial — conservative columnist and author Ann Coulter will be speaking at Iowa State on Friday as part of a book tour to promote her newest book, “How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).”

Coulter, who is known for books and columns that are often heavily critical of Democrats and liberals, will be coming just days before Tuesday’s election in a joint initiative by the Committee on Lectures, the ISU College Republicans and the Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute, a women’s conservative group. Currently, her book is No. 4 on the Wall Street Journal’s Nonfiction Best Sellers List.

Louis Kishkunas, president of the ISU College Republicans, said Coulter has become widely known because she has a “pedigree of being educated on the issues,” which has allowed her to comment on them.

Kishkunas said another reason she has been so prominent is because of her provocative and sometimes inflammatory comments.

Her style hasn’t come without criticism. At a speaking engagement at the University of Arizona, two men ran on stage and threw custard pies at her. The two men were later arrested.

Kishkunas said he doesn’t expect anything like that to happen at Iowa State.

Pat Miller, manager of the ISU lectures program, said despite the fact that prominent liberal filmmaker Michael Moore spoke at Stephens Auditorium 11 days before Coulter is scheduled to speak, the popular commentator wasn’t meant to balance the speaking schedule.

“One of the things we do on the Committee for Lectures is we try to bring a person we might not have been able to bring [in the past],” Miller said.

Nicole Asmussen, vice president of the ISU College Republicans, said she didn’t think it was necessary for one speaker to balance another, as long as the lecture series as a whole provided a range of different viewpoints.

“Generally I’ve been pleased with the lectures series,” Asmussen said.

Kishkunas said he thought it was an incredible opportunity for the lectures program and for ISU students. Kishkunas said the lectures series has done a good job of providing a wide variety of viewpoints from all different perspectives, not from just the two major sides.

“In this climate, people tend to go with people they already agree with, which I think is bad for politics,” he said.

Drew Larson, senior in accounting and a member of the ISU Democrats, said he is excited to have Coulter speaking on campus, but doesn’t plan to attend.

“It’s important that both sides get a chance to speak,” Larson said.

He said he doesn’t like speakers like Michael Moore and Ann Coulter who push agendas and only present one side of the argument, but does think they were effective in rallying their supporters right before the election.