Zac Byer | Start playing politics with funding

On Monday, Nov. 19, the College Republicans hosted Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) for a presidential town hall. Visiting the school with him were Governor Jon Huntsman of Utah and John Lehman of the 9/11 Commission.

We were elated by the student response to this event - we had to turn away over 100 people from Zellerbach Theatre, which had reached its capacity at 980. The Senator's staff told us afterwards that this was by far the largest crowd to come together for a campaign event for McCain during this election cycle.

While the College Republicans have an incredible amount to be proud of, we want to make the University community aware of the array of difficulties posed to us by various organizations at Penn as we organized the town hall.

To use the facilities at Zellerbach, we were initially charged with a bill of approximately $10,000. Subsequent to hearing these staggering numbers, we moved the town hall to Huntsman G-06. Yet, with over 600 students registered to attend the event and a room that only seated 299, we were going to do all we could to move into a larger space so that we could accommodate as many as possible.

Zellerbach came back once again with a $10,000 price tag.

To lower that price to $4,900, Senator McCain's advance team was forced to cut from the program a 10-minute video that is normally the introduction for his events. The campaign was able to contribute enough funds to pay for half of the costs. But where were we, the College Republicans - who receive no SAC funding - to come up with another $2,000 in a matter of days?

The afternoon of Friday, Nov. 16, consisted of scrambling from office to office on campus looking for any sort of contribution. From the Political Science Department to Fox Leadership to Fels, we were turned away without a dime. Their logic: We can't fund an event that isn't structured like a forum because both views aren't being represented.

I'm sorry, but that is absolutely absurd.

First, were two viewpoints represented when the Political Science Department contributed funds to bring in Holocaust denier Norman Finkelstein last year? Second, what if Penn had in fact hosted the Democratic Presidential Debate several weeks ago? Would two views have been represented there?

And most importantly, how, without any sort of SAC funding, can the College Republicans or the Penn Democrats or any political organization on campus be expected to reserve rooms and cover the costs associated with hosting an event like this town hall?

The College Republicans are more than happy to provide such experiences like the town hall with Senator McCain to our fellow students. In fact, the board covered the rest of the bill for Zellerbach and plans on being reimbursed when funds become sufficient.

However, Penn should be pulling out all the stops to encourage political discourse and activism on campus. Take a look at today's cabinet secretaries, congressmen and senators and you'll conspicuously notice the names Harvard and Yale as regulars under the "University Attended" header in their biographies. There is no reason why more of these prestigious political positions cannot be occupied by Penn graduates.

Yet, the lack of conscious effort to encourage students to be the future representatives of the nation is startling. Penn has the resources, the means and the national standing to stand up to comparable universities in the quest to produce future ambassadors and governors.

Professor DiIulio's new course "Leadership, Citizenship, and Democracy" is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. But we will need more than just a new class or two.

Two of the largest student groups on campus - the Penn Democrats and College Republicans - receive no funding to conduct activities throughout the year. At comparable universities, the campus Democrats and Republicans do in fact receive funding, sometimes upwards of $15,000, as is the case with Harvard.

To all of my fellow students involved in these or other political organizations here at Penn, I can promise you that we are beginning work to secure SAC funding and seats on UA Steering for our organizations.

Equal in importance, Penn must assume the responsibility and bring in more speakers on a regular basis. Why is it that students at Johns Hopkins can hear from former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich or students at American University have the ability to fill an auditorium to listen to President Bill Clinton?

As students, this is a question we need to ask of our administration.

In just one year, the Penn Democrats have brought in Nancy Pelosi, Bob Casey, Ed Rendell and several of the Philadelphia mayoral candidates. The College Republicans have invited John McCain, Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman.

Now it's the University's turn.

Zac Byer is a College sophomore. He is the president of College Republicans.

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