Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich will come to Saint Louis University next spring as a speaker for the College Republicans.
“This is one of the biggest-name speakers that SLU has seen,” said Nicholas Pistor, a member of the College Republicans at SLU and a Chairman of the Missouri Federation of College Republicans.
“I think that it’s great that the College Republicans went for it and are bringing Gingrich to campus,” said junior Tricia Fechter, chair of the Great Issues Committee.
The arrival of Gingrich is sure to bring debate and discussion to the University as it has already created some controversy.
The Great Issues Committee, the organization solely responsible for bringing speakers to campus, voted for two years in a row not to bring Gingrich to campus.
“For the past few years, the Great Issues Committee has tried to work away from bringing political speakers to campus,” Fechter said. “We’re trying to bring speakers that deal more with specific issues.”
However, members of the College Republicans feel the vote to not bring Gingrich was more of a personal issue.
“I think that it was voted down because people just don’t like Newt Gingrich,” Pistor said.
Jim McNichols, a College Republican and former member of the committee, said, “Definite political feelings went into the way people voted.”
According to Fechter, “The committee didn’t feel like inviting Gingrich to campus as far as our goals are set.”
This year the committee is looking forward to bringing such speakers as actor and human-rights activist Martin Sheen and sportscaster Bob Costas. They are also working with the Black Student Alliance to bring a speaker for Black History Month.
“We’re looking to bring diversity to this year,” Fechter said. “Newt just didn’t complement our other speakers.”
“The student body will go to see Newt,” Fechter continued. “That’s what’s important.”
Pistor said that a lot of people don’t like Gingrich, but he thinks that the speech will be well attended. “It will stir debate and encourage discussion,” he continued.
“Speaker Gingrich is my political hero, and I am elated that he is coming to speak to the SLU community,” Pistor said in a press release. “The students will have a chance to hear someone who has made history.”
Due to the controversy, the College Republicans are getting a quite a bargain to see this “hero.”
Gingrich charges $45,000 dollars to speak at an event. When Gingrich was discussed at Great Issues, the College Republicans had raised $35,000 through Sam Fox of Town & Country. The Committee was only expected to fund the additional $10,000.
After the Committee voted down the speech, Gingrich volunteered to waive his fee and come to SLU’s campus on behalf of the College Republicans for free.
The College Republicans are only expected to pay for the actual fees of travel and other details for Gingrich.
According to McNichols, the College Republicans have proved that they can host a speaker of Gingrich’s magnitude referring to the event a couple of years ago when George W. Bush was brought to campus by the organization.
