A campaign kickoff hosted by the Brown Democrats and planned for the night of Sept. 21 was cancelled the day before after it failed to gain University approval.
The kickoff was to feature several prominent Rhode Island Democratic candidates running for office this November as well as current Democratic officeholders. In addition to U.S. Senate hopeful Sheldon Whitehouse, the event's primary speaker, the kickoff was to include gubernatorial candidate and current Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty, lieutenant governor candidate Elizabeth Roberts '78, Mayor David Cicilline '83 and R.I. Democratic Party Chair Bill Lynch.
According to guidelines for on-campus political activity on the Web site for the Student Activities Office, "An appearance of a candidate for public office on campus must be for an educational or informational talk to the University community and must be sponsored by a recognized University organization."
Student groups must secure the SAO's approval for such appearances at least two weeks in advance, according to the Web site. The Dems did not apply for approval from the SAO until Sept. 15, less than one week before the event, according to Michael Chapman, vice president for public affairs and University relations.
"Those rules (on the SAO Web site) are the first place people go to begin the process for holding an event. ... Then if there's any question about it, if it's something that's of a political nature, (my office) is consulted as well as the general counsel," Chapman said.
"(We) tried to respond as quickly as we could before the event," Chapman said. "We looked at who was coming and what the agenda was, and after consulting with the Office of General Counsel we decided this is the kind of event we can't hold at Brown due to its political nature."
On Sept. 19, the Dems were informed they could not hold the kickoff on campus. The SAO provided them with a list of 15 potential off-campus venues, but Dems President Tor Tarantola '08 said none of the options were feasible.
"We were under the impression that the SAO was okay with doing it as long as it was billed as an educational event," Tarantola said. "They sort of changed their minds once they found out more about it."
Tarantola cited as precedent several similar events that have been allowed under the current policy.
"Back in 2002 we threw an event that was billed as a youth political forum that was sort of similar, we had a few candidates ... and it was okay," Tarantola said. He also cited Ralph Nader's on-campus speech that was given in 2004 during one of his presidential campaigns and a talk by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., which was delivered while she was running for re-election as similar events held in the past.
Politicians running for office may come and speak on campus as long as it is for educational reasons, Chapman said, citing Clinton's speech as an example. University policy, however, prohibits partisan political activity.
The policy reads, "... as a non-profit, private institution of higher education whose activities are regulated in part by ... the Internal Revenue Code, the University is prohibited from engaging in partisan political activity or permitting its resources to be used for support of such activities."
This is the second time the policy on political activities has been invoked this election season, Chapman said. Ward 1 City Council candidate Seth Yurdin was slated to speak on campus earlier this month with Jim Dean, brother of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean and chair of the national organization Democracy for America, but the event was moved off campus because of its political nature, Chapman said.
In an e-mail to their listserv, Dems leaders wrote that the University had forced them to cancel the kickoff "due to their recent interpretation of the campaigning policy, which we are now in the process of reviewing and trying to reform. An angry email to your favorite university administrator would not be out of line."
Tarantola told The Herald the Dems "are going to be hopefully meeting with administrators and trying to reform that policy." The SAO "put that policy in place when they weren't as well staffed as they are now ... they seem open to reforming it" now that they can review events in greater depth, Tarantola said.
Chapman said he was unaware of any pending review of the policy.
"Our policy on political events is governed by the Internal Revenue Service's tax laws," Chapman said. "As a 501(c)(3) institution we can't make our facilities or any of our resources used for political purposes," he added.
Tarantola said University policy is more "stringent" than IRS regulations actually require. He cited a summary of legal opinions prepared by a Washington, D.C. law firm that categorizes permissible political activity by a nonprofit college or university. The list of permissible activity includes the "use of institutional facilities by established student groups for partisan political purposes, provided that such groups pay the usual and normal charge."
