White House 'architect' Karl Rove to speak at Penn

by Kathy Wang | Monday, January 28, 2008 at (All day)

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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.

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