Skip to comments.

Posted on 09/06/2001 9:25:10 AM PDT by NYpeanut

Student leaders at the University at Buffalo say the university administration nixed their choice of Bill Clinton as a guest speaker because the ex-president is too controversial.

Student government officials say they believe they could have afforded Clinton's hefty speaking fee - a reported $125,000 - but the university killed the idea of inviting him. "Without a shadow of a doubt, we would have made it happen," said Christian Oliver, the Student Association president. "Clinton would have been a good speaker."

University officials, however, say they never rejected Clinton as being too controversial for UB's Distinguished Speakers series. The timing would be better in 2003 or 2004, when Clinton could comment on an upcoming presidential election and his autobiography, and when his fee might be less expensive, they say.

"We would clearly love to book Bill Clinton at some point in the future," said William J. Regan, director of conferences and special events for UB. Oliver and Joshua Korman, the association's vice president, say Clinton was their first choice as a speaker at UB this school year.

Traditionally, one guest in UB's annual Distinguished Speakers series is selected with input from students. No other speaker would generate nearly as much interest as Clinton, Korman said. Oliver and Korman said they approached Regan in the spring, and he initially told them it might be possible to invite Clinton, but later said it wouldn't be possible. Oliver said he then informally approached Dennis R. Black, the vice president for student affairs, and asked why Clinton couldn't be invited.

Oliver said Black told him Clinton was too controversial. Black said he couldn't comment on why Clinton wasn't invited to speak. Oliver and Korman said UB President William R. Greiner also told them Clinton was too controversial for the series.

According to Korman, Greiner said: "We can't bring him because it would upset the series sponsors too much to call him distinguished."

Greiner said he has "no recollection" of discussing Clinton as a speaker with Oliver and Korman at their April meeting, but that he never involves himself in selecting speakers. Regan, who oversees the speakers' series, said he wondered if the Student Association could afford the former president's speaking fee, a reported $125,000 and at least double the cost of any previous UB speaker. The fee presumably would be lower at a future date. "I think the story he could tell in two or three years is better than the story he could tell now," Regan said. Korman and Oliver said they believe that business sponsorships and brisk ticket sales would have made Clinton affordable.

Regan said he didn't run the possibility of a Clinton appearance by series sponsors to see if they would object. The Distinguished Speakers series is underwritten by Don Davis Auto World, with additional sponsors for individual speakers.

The university doesn't shy away from hosting controversial speakers, Black said. "Oh my goodness, this campus has been the site of more controversial speakers than any other platform in a five-hour drive," he said. He cited Khalid Abdul Muhammad, a former Nation of Islam spokesman accused of anti-Semitism, who spoke at UB in 1994. Muhammad, however, was invited by the Black Student Union and was not part of the Distinguished Speakers series.

Former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George Bush each have spoken at UB as part of the series. And Greiner noted that UB invited Clinton to be a commencement speaker while he was president, but he declined. The Student Association has since turned its attention to other possible speakers. The association's second choice, Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, declined an invitation to speak. UB also is speaking to representatives of comedian Chris Rock to set up a speaking engagement on campus.

Franco Mattei, an associate professor of political science at UB, said that universities strive to bring in enlightening, interesting speakers, and Clinton certainly fits the bill. "I wouldn't consider Clinton tainted to the point of making him unqualified to be a speaker," Mattei said.

Lest America ever forget why X-42, W(B)-97, and all their enablers should be hectored, hounded, and harried into silence, until "clintonese is only spoken in Hell," look here:

-Murder, Inc.--

-The number of "suicides" for people linked to this and other Clinton-related cases--

-ATTENTION BLOODHOUNDS--

-Women in the Clinton Era: Abuse,Intimidation and Smears--

Clinton, China, Money, Loral & Treason

-Loads of corruption links--

-Presidential Treason 105- Part 3 of the Clinton/China Connection--

-SEND JUANITA BROADDRICK VIDEO TO THOSE WHO WANT CLINTON TO SPEAK--

- info about Juanita Broaddrick's ordeal--

-The Anti-Hillary Homepage by MrBungle--

The Hillary Watch is ON!

-Hillary Clinton-What America Needs to Know--

MEMO: HILL PUSHED FOR COKE PARDON

If you only read one link, make it "Murder, Inc."

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.