Over the past week, there has been controversy over the school denying Barack Obama access to campus for a rally this Saturday. I spoke to Jill Carnaghi, assistant vice chancellor for students and director of campus life, briefly today when I saw her in Whispers in order to get a feel for the situation and to squash any rumors.
She told me the school was concerned about being fair to all of the candidates. The school felt they could not logistically provide the opportunity to speak on campus to all of the candidates. OK, great, sounds like a good policy, but what about all the times the school hasn’t been fair and balanced? I remember watching the election returns in November 2006 and looking for the results for the stem cell research ballot measure. I noticed as they were interviewing people who supported the measure, the reception for supporting Amendment 2 was at the Knight Center. That’s right, on campus. Did they anticipate the opposition wanting to reserve space? Hmm, probably not.
OK, you say, the University had a special interest in stem-cell research because it would greatly help our medical research. Correct, but that isn’t the only time the school has been involved with political endeavors. According to opensecrets.org, in the 2006 Senate campaign, the school gave $30,600 to Claire McCaskill, a Democrat. Also, in 2002, the school gave $35,400 to Democrat Jean Carnahan in her Senate race. Poor Republican Jim Talent; he ran in both races and even went to Wash. U. but was given nothing. Too bad I didn’t dig deeper, I’m sure I would have found tons of other donations. So, we’ve established that the school is uber-excited about giving Democrats money, but that still doesn’t change the fact that the school doesn’t want to get involved this round because they may have to provide a facility to everyone.
On Monday, Chelsea Clinton paid a visit to St. Louis by visiting a site at UMSL and stopping by Kayak’s at the corner of Skinker and Forest Park Parkway for a campaign rally. According to the school’s Web site, they own the building that Kayak’s is in: www.wustl.edu/tour/danforth. In case you didn’t catch that, I just told you that the Clinton campaign made a stop on the property of Washington University in St. Louis, not to be confused with University of Washington or the George Washington University.
The event on Monday has opened the Pandora’s Box of opportunities for candidates to speak on campus, the same box the administration was trying not to open. What happened to the days when the school was concerned for educating its students politically?
This year’s election is important to hundreds of students on campus, so why not open the dialogue for students to compare the candidates? What happened to the days of canceling finals for the students to protest Vietnam in Forest Park? I hope each and every one of you who is outraged contact the administration. I look forward to seeing Barack Obama on Saturday, regardless of the venue he ends up eventually choosing. Hopefully, the school will realize its mistake and make our lives easier.
William is a junior in Arts & Sciences. He can be reached via e-mail billronkoski@gmail.com.