Former United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to visit California Lutheran University May 4, 2018. Rice is visiting Cal Lutheran as part of the inaugural speaker series for the Elton and Janice Gallegly Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement.

The event will take place in the Gilbert Arena at 5:30 p.m. with Rice discussing civic engagement and public service. Tickets are available to purchase online and are free for students, faculty and staff from Cal Lutheran. The attendance fee for alumni is $10 and $50 for the general public.

“It was meant to be a learning opportunity…and kind of a gift to our campus community to be able to have someone of that stature speak here on campus,” said Kristine Calara, associate vice president of University Advancement. “We didn’t want to have to charge because we’re using philanthropic funds, partly, and it’s supposed to benefit the campus community at large.”

Herbert Gooch, a political science professor at Cal Lutheran, has helped not only with the Center as a whole, which includes fellowships for students in the Master of Public Policy and Administration program, but also the speaker series. Another professor helping with the speaker series is Jamshid Damooei, chair of the economics, finance and accounting department and MPPA program interim director.

“The goal is to have the Center go beyond the fellowships and holding Elton Gallegly’s archives from when he was in office,” Gooch said.

Gooch said he and Gallegly had been talking about who they could bring in. Gooch emphasized that it should be nonpartisan and that the person’s political views should not polarize their presence, and that who they picked should not be sitting in office currently.

Although the Center is said to be nonpartisan, Calara confirmed in an email that Rice’s speech is in part being funded by a $92,000 estate gift for the Catherine Smalling Speaker Series, “restricted to a lecture series on conservative political values in memory of Ronald Reagan,” according to a document from November 2017.

Damooei said this estate gift covered 75 percent of the money to bring Rice here, while the other 25 percent is being paid for by the ticket sales and other sponsorships.

According to a July 2014 article from ABC News, the University of Minnesota paid Rice $150,000 to speak, which is around the same cost of former President George H.W. Bush’s speaker fees.

Due to a nondisclosure agreement, a direct amount cannot be made public on what Rice is charging to come to campus, Damooei and Calara said. Damooei said money leftover from the event will go toward the fellowships and other future activities if enough is raised.

“I hope that even before she speaks a word, they [students] realize that she is a human being and she’s been able to accomplish so much. I hope they give her a fair hearing,” Gooch said. “And then there is all the political stuff and her achievements, all the potential that is able to be reached.”

The Gallegly Public Service Fellowship is offered at the graduate school level for MPPA students. Invitations are sent out to various undergraduate students from different majors who are set to graduate with a 3.5 grade point average or higher. The fellowship is a full scholarship and offers two research stipends.

Damooei said that the first speaker being conservative does not mean all the other speakers will be conservatives as well.

“Faculty input, the director of the program and others involved will make the decisions on the speakers that will be brought onto our campus,” Damooei said. “The hardest part has been finding a stable and a nonpartisan series to give the students the worldviews that will help them succeed.”

The Gilbert Arena is able to seat approximately 2,200 people. Five hundred tickets have already been reserved by faculty, students and staff. Tickets will open up to the public and alumni this weekend for purchase.

The day of the event will be a first come, first serve seating arrangement, aside from the VIP section which will be reserved for people who supported the Center.

If students want to become involved the day of the event, volunteers are needed for logistic purposes. They have reached out to several organizations on campus seeking volunteers, Calara said.

“There is a 30 minute question and answer portion that will be moderated by CNBC special correspondent Jane Wells,” Calara said.

Tickets can be purchased online through the following link: https://cluspeakers.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx.

Vianca Castaneda-Correa
Reporter