As spring break kicks off, students still on campus this afternoon may catch a glimpse of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.).
The former first lady is slated to make an appearance at World Cafe Live, located at 3025 Walnut St., at 1 p.m. for a Social Security town hall meeting.
Other major public figures expected to attend the "Fix It or Nix It" event include Gov. Ed Rendell, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).
But Clinton's appearance is not guaranteed.
Dan De Rosa, the political outreach chairman for the Penn College Democrats, said that Clinton's schedule will not be finalized until this morning, when she will decide whether or not to attend after a fundraiser in New York.
"Clinton is still up in the air," the College junior said. "There will definitely be a third senator," whether it is Clinton or someone else.
The event -- planned by Rendell's office -- is meant to bring together Democrats from across the region to be educated about the party's position on Social Security.
Rendell's office contacted the leadership of the Penn Democrats last Saturday and alerted them of the event.
"Literally as soon as I sent out an e-mail [about the event], my inbox was flooded with responses, so there was no need to do any additional advertising," Penn Democrats President Jessica Smyth said.
World Cafe Live officials could not be reached for comment, but both Smyth and De Rosa speculated that the venue was chosen because of its proximity to the student population.
"I would imagine it had to do with the fact that the World Cafe is very close to Penn and Drexel," De Rosa said. "They specifically want to talk to students about Social Security because there is the misconception in our age group that privatization will help us the most."
The president's Social Security reform plan calls for Americans to be able to invest some of their earnings in private investment accounts, which will presumably mature economically in time for retirement.
Democrats vehemently oppose privatization, saying that private accounts will do nothing to alleviate the problems that are driving Social Security into the red.
"I'm looking forward to hearing from the top about what we can do to not only take the message to college students, but what steps they are going to take and what kind of help they are going to need to actually reform it," said Smyth, a College junior.
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