The Assembly Series is a Student Union-funded program that invites well-known figures, such as Seymour Hersh and Seth McFarlane, to speak on campus. It is a laudable program, but it has always been hampered by its own scheduling. The Assembly Series is held at 11 a.m. on Wednesdays and unfortunately many students are in class at the time and unable to attend. According to the class listings found on WebSTAC, there are 1,417 Arts & Sciences students who are currently enrolled in classes that conflict with the Assembly Series speaking schedule. That is a substantial fraction of the student body and it simply isn’t acceptable for so many students to be essentially barred from attending a series that is specifically designed for them.

Also problematic with the structure of the Assembly Series are the specific rules for getting speakers. The Assembly Series Committee, a group composed of University students, faculty and staff, tends to shy away from choosing extremely political speakers in an effort to maintain a relatively non-partisan campus environment. To be sure, political speakers like Ann Coulter and Arianna Huffington have visited the campus in the past, but the overall makeup of the Assembly Series speaker lineup tends to shy away from those kinds of figures.

Student Union is working to correct this problem and we commend them for that. Last year, the Assembly Series maintained a budget of $100,000. This year, Student Union has reduced the Assembly Series budget to $40,000.

Complementing this budget cut is the creation of a new Student Speakers Fund. Although this new fund will begin with $40,000, this amount could potentially be increased should Student Union later deem it appropriate to do so.

This new program is similar to the current Assembly Series and it is the brainchild of the new Student Union executives. During our endorsement interviews for all the Student Union executive candidates, current SU President Neil Patel informed us of his intentions to start up this program. Patel explained that the Student Speakers Fund could bring in speakers who were not approved by Assembly Series.This new program would also schedule speakers during times that are more accommodating to the student body, such as during evening hours.

We commend Student Union for this plan. It will allow more students to hear speakers on campus and these speakers can potentially offer provocative opinions that may spark debate and discussion among students.

With two budgets and two speaker programs, however, Student Union needs to be careful that the Student Speakers series does not become just a second Assembly Series. SU needs to be receptive to the wants and needs of the students who will be attending these events. It also needs to find an efficient way of determining what times will be convenient for students. We hope the Student Speakers series, while able to bring in provoking speakers, will maintain a balance of the strong opinions across its speaker slate. We want to see conservative speakers and liberal speakers. Despite these caveats, we like this idea. Now make it work.

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