Dartmouth says it’s working to bring Trump to campus

In response, I assume, to criticism over excluding Donald Trump from using Spaulding auditorium while allowing Hillary Clinton to do so, Dartmouth’s PR department has issued this statement:

Dartmouth is eager to welcome all political candidates to campus and give our students the access that comes with being in New Hampshire during the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Lindsey Graham were both recently on campus as part of College-sponsored events. We would love to welcome Donald Trump to Dartmouth as well.

Spaulding Auditorium is not available for rent by non-Dartmouth individuals and organizations, including political candidates. It is, however, available for use (through reservation) by campus groups holding College-sponsored events. For example, in 2011 when the College hosted the Republican Presidential Debate, it was held in Spaulding Auditorium.

Hillary Clinton’s visit on Tuesday, November 10, is an event sponsored by the Tuck School of Business and the Rockefeller Center for Public Policy as part of their presidential candidates speakers series. Donald Trump has been invited to participate in this series and we are currently discussing the logistics. Given Trump’s popularity, chances are that such a visit would also be held in Spaulding Auditorium.

Is it a coincidence that the three candidates brought in so far by Dartmouth as part of its “series” are the clear Democratic frontrunner, the most liberal Republican in the top ten, and a Republican no-hoper? I don’t know. Why aren’t Dartmouth’s College Republicans, who tried to bring Trump to speak, a campus group capable of holding a College-sponsored event? I don’t know that either.

Finally, I don’t know whether there was any effort, or even inclination, to bring Trump to Dartmouth as part of the presidential candidate series before the issue of pro-Clinton favoritism was raised.

In any event, I hope that Dartmouth students have the opportunity to hear from Trump on campus in the appropriate venue, namely Spaulding. If Trump comes there could be fireworks, given the tendencies of the “Black Lives Matter” students. Trump doesn’t take kindly to bullying and never misses a chance to try to score at their expense.

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