Alberto Gonzales to speak on campus

Earlier this week, the Student Union Treasury approved funds to bring beleaguered former attorney general Alberto Gonzales to speak on campus next semester.

College Republicans, the primary sponsor of the event, appealed for $10,000 to augment funding of $25,000 from the SU speaker series budget.

In their presentation at Treasury on Tuesday night, the College Republicans outlined how bringing Gonzales to campus will promote political awareness and discourse on campus-especially because he is so controversial.

According to SU President Neil Patel, Washington University will be one of Gonzales' first speaking appearances since he stepped down as attorney general.

Gonzales resigned as attorney general in late August amid a series of scandals centering around the firing of several U.S. attorneys and several Department of Justice policy decisions regarding the War on Terror.

The decision to bring Gonzales to campus comes as part of a larger effort on the part of SU to bring well-known and controversial speakers to campus.

The primary way that SU has worked towards this goal is through the creation of the speaker series fund that took away part of the funding from the assembly series.

"The Assembly Series wouldn't be able to bring in a speaker like Gonzales because they are responsible to so many different groups," said Patel.

While the Assembly Series is funded by the University-and thereby responsible to alumni, the board of trustees and the larger community-the SU speaker fund is much more flexible.

Because Gonzales is such a controversial speaker, there will be additional security to ensure that any demonstrators do not interfere with the speech; almost $5,000 of the total money allocated for the program will go towards security and other expenses unrelated to Gonzales' honorarium.

"There's a tendency to be demonstrators when there's such a big name," said Patel. "That's fine, but I wouldn't want his speech to get disrupted."

According to Patel, while it is still unclear what additional security measures would be implemented, there may be an additional police presence.

"People should keep an open mind," said senior Sam Gittle, president of College Republicans. "I recognize that close to three-quarters of this campus just hates the sound of his name, but I'd urge them to keep an open mind and listen to him speak."

Although many students disagree with Gonzales politically, there was an appreciation of the significance of bringing such a well-known and experienced speaker to campus.

"Personally, while I might not agree with him, I think that [Gonzales] is important for people to hear," said senior Meredith Sigler, president of College Democrats.

The majority of the $35,000 budget for the event will go towards Gonzales' $30,000 honorarium.

Gonzales is scheduled to speak on February 19 in the 560 Music Center.

At the Treasury meeting where the final appeal for the Gonzales event was debated, some Treasury members expressed concern regarding the event's location.

Patel dismissed those concerns, however, indicating that the 560 Music Center is the biggest venue on campus other than the Athletic Complex, seating 1,100.

While the event may be open to the St. Louis community, students with a University identification will get priority in admittance.