Donald Keough, Editor-in-Chief
Former Vice President Mike Pence is visiting campus on April 15 for this year’s Babcock Lecture Series.
This program, which is funded by a 1981 endowment from Mary Babcock, is designed to bring speakers to campus who reflect American conservative heritage.
Pence’s “main event” will be a lecture held in Swasey Chapel at 7:30 p.m. Additionally, Pence will also participate in two smaller class visits earlier in the afternoon: Intro to Global Governance class to discuss foreign policy, and an End of Democracy class to focus on domestic questions.
Prior to the lecture, there will also be a private reception and dinner, which will include university trustees, administrators, members of the PPA department, and a limited number of students.
The Politics and Public Affairs (PPA) department as well as a committee board for the Babcock Lecture series worked to arrange Pence’s visit. According to Heather Pool, Chair of the Politics and Public Affairs department, Pence was chosen because he has a consistent conservative position.
“I think we want to have somebody who represents the best of the conservative tradition, or at least an actual coherent conservative position,” Pool said. “Mike Pence actually is a pretty coherent conservative right, his positions align with foundations of conservative thought.”
The main event will hold around 750 attendees and will feature an 80-minute moderated conversation which won’t include time for audience members to ask questions. It will be moderated by Katy Crossley-Frolick, who works in the Provost’s Office.
Pool also said that avoiding an open microphone will help keep the conversation broad.
“The concern from his camp was that people were only going to ask about two things: ‘What do you think about President Trump?’ and ‘Tell me about January 6,’” Pool said. “There is far more to Mike Pence than those things.”
Questions for the lecture were pre-selected from submissions by ticket holders. Most current ticket holders are students. The conversation will focus on three main topics, including Pence the person, Pence the politician, and Pence’s thoughts on present day topics.
While the university is preparing for the possibility of protests, the PPA department is encouraging the campus community to attend and engage with the speaker.
“We invited them to come to our house, and we should listen to people when we invite them to come to our house, even if we don’t like the things that they’re saying,” Pool said. “Politics, in my opinion, is mostly about doing your best to get as much done as you can.”