White House 'architect' Karl Rove to speak at Penn

He has been called the "architect" of the White House, has stirred up some of the most controversial debates in recent years, and now he's coming to Penn.

Karl Rove, political strategist and former deputy chief of staff to President Bush, will speak to the Penn community at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 20 in Irvine Auditorium.

As the Social Planning and Events Committee Connaissance spring keynote speaker, Rove will discuss his experiences and career, the current political situation and field questions from the audience. A faculty member from the political science department will likely be on-hand to moderate the event.

"We were mainly looking at political speakers who would bring something different to the community," said College senior and SPEC Connaissance co-director Elana Wilf.

She added that the choice was also based on the recent SPEC survey that revealed students' interest in someone "controversial and political."

SPEC would not reveal how much Rove will receive for speaking at Penn.

As a senior advisor to President Bush and the director of his 2004 re-election campaign, Rove was instrumental in shaping numerous major policy decisions until his resignation last summer. Prior to working in the White House, Rove served as a political consultant to various Republican candidates.

"Regardless of whether or not a person agrees with Mr. Rove's political tactics or methods, it remains clear that he has been an extremely powerful force in Washington over the last decade," College junior and SPEC Connaissance co-director Michael Zorger said. "Especially with the presidential election coming up, we're hoping to generate some buzz."

"He's clearly very divisive, but it's disappointing that he's not Mitt Romney or Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton," said Wharton junior and Penn Democrats President Clayton Robinson, who said he would be interested in attending the event.

Rove follows in the footsteps of recent past high-profile political speakers, including Henry Kissinger and Howard Dean.

College senior and SPEC President Max Cancre described the politician as "a good balance" to SPEC's fall speaker, entertainer Whoopi Goldberg.

SPEC Connaissance hosts two major keynote-speaker events each year and co-sponsors various other speaker events on campus.

Tickets for the event will be available for $5 to PennCard holders via a lottery system on the SPEC Web site, specevents.net, beginning today and continuing through Feb. 10.

Comments (9)

Please name one good thing Karl Rove has done that justifies his being paid to speak to students at Penn. What lasting positive impact has he had on any aspect of US cultural or politics? Just because someone was involved or controversial does not justify his presence on our campus. Why didn't we just invite Ken Lay at the height of the Enron debacle or Michael Brown from FEMA after Katrina? They both have a place in history. As someone who shared responsibility for the illegal and immoral US invasion and now occupation of Iraq, the Penn community deserves better, regardless of the political party.

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Like Henry Kissinger last year ($70,000 honorarium), Penn honors someone whose misdeeds warrant a prison cell more than a high profile (and likely highly compensated) speaking gig.

I hope some students ask him questions regarding his numerous criminal and immoral deeds, e.g. violations of the Hatch Act, the U.S. Attorney purge, the outing of Valerie Plame, etc. etc. etc. Otherwise, his coming to speak will be a complete and utter waste of students' time. Rove is not brilliant by any stretch -- he is simply limitless in his lack of scruples and detachment from honoring the truth.

It saddens me to know that since Adolph Hitler was unavailable, SPEC chose to have Karl Rove speak on Wednesday. I sincerely hope that in the spirit of all that is decent on campus, all in attendence WALK OUT as he takes the stage.

Great post thanks for share

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