Penn's in a tough spot.
Vice President Dick Cheney will be visiting campus at the end of October, just a couple of weeks before Election Day -- and the partisan wrangling that's ballooned in recent weeks is making for a highly contentious election season.
Aside from his role as the nation's second-in-command, Cheney is a top Republican operative, spending much of his time trying to make sure Republicans keep control of the House of Representatives and take back the Senate.
His visit is part of the dedication ceremony for Jon M. Huntsman Hall, the new Wharton building on Walnut Street. Unfortunately, his address will be closed to members of the Penn community.
Cheney comes to support his good friend Jon Huntsman, whose generosity made the behemoth possible.
Huntsman is a big supporter of the Republican Party, and this month's speech will not mark the first time Cheney has joined a Huntsman dedication ceremony. Last year, the vice president spoke at the groundbreaking for the Huntsman Cancer Center in Utah.
Also, Huntsman's son, Jon Jr., is a member of the Bush administration, serving as a trade representative.
The Huntsman-Cheney connection puts the University -- and most surely Democrat and University President Judith Rodin -- in a very difficult position.
On the one hand, Huntsman himself has, well, a certain amount of say into how the late-October festivities will run.
If he wants an event that shuts out students and faculty, there isn't much that members of the University community can do to change his mind.
On the other hand, this is a university, a place for the exchange of ideas.
And we've had the privilege to hear some great speakers recently, with more on their way.
Bob Woodward gave a talk this week as part of Academic Integrity Week. Later this month, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani will address students as the Connaissance fall speaker.
Not offering members of the Penn community the chance to hear the vice president speak is an opportunity squandered.
Any address by the vice president that's open to students -- even if the focus is not on policy, but on Huntsman's achievements -- could only add to campus dialogue about key political issues like Iraq and the upcoming election.
What's more, the claim that any part of the Huntsman Hall dedication is a "Huntsman" event and not a "University" event is preposterous. After all, according to a Wharton spokeswoman, some members of the Penn community, however elite, are invited.
But the timing, of course, could not be worse.
Just a short time before the election, any address, let alone a public one, could make the University look like a Republican campaign stop, which Rodin certainly wouldn't want. It's a political risk, though, that may be worth taking.
At this point, manipulating schedules so that Cheney can speak at the official, "public" part of the dedication probably isn't possible.
As the spokeswoman said, "Vice President Cheney's schedule did not permit him to be available during the public part of the celebration." The Cheney ceremony will take place the morning of Oct. 25; the official dedication will be that afternoon.
The powers that be should turn the private event into a once-in-a-lifetime chance for all members of the Penn community to hear our nation's vice president speak and to react accordingly.
How can what promises to be the highlight of such an important two-day series of events be kept away from the students?
Even if they have to limit attendance with a lottery system or some other mechanism, officials should find a way to ensure that Cheney's visit isn't wasted.
I'm sure that in a speech to the University community as a whole, in a celebration as important to the University as the opening of the new building, Cheney could tailor his remarks to be appropriate to the dedication of a building. I doubt he would go so far as to tell students to vote for Mike Fisher for governor. And political ideology aside, there are few guests as appropriate for the opening of Wharton's new Huntsman Hall as Dick Cheney.
Penn, and Huntsman, would have to make the choice between what amounts to a private party and what would be a terrific opportunity for Penn to uphold its mission.
But I'm not holding my breath.
Matthew Mugmon is a senior Classical Studies major from Columbia, Md., and executive editor of The Daily Pennnsylvanian .
