By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Nearly a dozen Rider University students — many of them members of the school’s Republican club — stood quietly outside the Bart Luedeke Student Center on Tuesday afternoon to protest the school’s choice of past and present speakers for Unity Day.
The students wore hand-lettered T-shirts that proclaimed that “9 of the past 11 Unity Day speakers were liberal.” One student help up a placard that read “Florida made the right choice” — a reference to the state’s backing of President George W. Bush.
A couple of students stood by the curb in front of the building, holding up signs that read “DNC — Definitely Not Credible” — and calling out to passing motorists to “honk for unity.” Only a couple of drivers honked.
The Rider University College Republicans organized the protest as a reaction to the university’s invitation to Donna Brazile to be the keynote speaker at the kickoff event for Unity Day. Ms. Brazile led the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000 and also chairs the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute.
Ms. Brazile’s selection as the Unity Day speaker is suspect, as the goal of Unity Day is to unite people and not divide them, said Joshua Hursa, a sophomore who is chairman of the Rider University College Republicans.
”I do not understand how the administration can use school resources, as well as money from the student activities fee, to support bringing only Democrats to campus in this critical election year,” Mr. Hursa said.
Mr. Hursa was referring to Ms. Brazile, who has been involved in Democratic presidential campaigns since 1976, and former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee, who spoke last month at the annual Constitution Day event.
”The concern we have is this. Every year, the school brings in two speakers — one for Constitution Day and one for Unity Day. Of the 11 speakers for Unity Day, nine were liberal. No one has been brought in to talk about conservative issues,” said Mr. Hursa, who is a sophomore.
Past Unity Day speakers have included Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a Princeton University professor of politics and African-American studies, and Irshad Manji, who was a speechwriter for the leader of the New Democratic Party and who participated in a Canadian television show and represented liberal views in debates, Mr. Hursa said in an e-mail.
Dr. Lani Guinier, who was President Bill Clinton’s nominee for assistant attorney general for civil rights and an affirmative action supporter, spoke at Unity Day. George Curry, a left-wing journalist, also has appeared at Unity Day, as well as Michael Moore, who is “an extremely left-wing filmmaker and liberal political commentator,” Mr. Hursa said in an e-mail.
Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Hursa suggested inviting Condoleeza Rice, who could have spoken on the topic of internationalism. He acknowledged that former New York Gov. George Pataki, who is a Republican, spoke to Rider students several years ago on Constitution Day.
But Rider University spokesman Dan Higgins replied that the Unity Day speaker is only one portion of a series of events that speaks to multi-cultural issues. The Unity Day speaker is not intended to be a partisan speaker and partisan politics plays “absolutely no role” in the choice of speaker, he said.
Mr. Higgins pointed out that the Unity Day and Constitution Day speakers are chosen by separate committees made up of students, faculty and staff. Sometimes the speaker is a Democrat and sometimes it’s a Republican, he said.
”As a university committed to diversity, Rider sees Unity Day as one of its most significant events of the year and works diligently to create a program that will educate our students and produce much-needed debate across a wide spectrum of multi-cultural issues,” Mr. Higgins said in an e-mail.
He defended the choice of Ms. Brazile, calling her “undoubtedly one of the nation’s foremost authorities” on the topic of race, gender and the American presidential race — her topic for the Unity Day speech. He said the university community was looking forward to hearing her views.
”We take very seriously our obligation to provide our students with the opportunity to make informed decisions based on thorough knowledge and critical thinking,” Mr. Higgins said in the e-mail. “Over the past few years, Rider has provided its students and its entire community access to varied opinions through the different speakers it has brought to campus.”
Mr. Higgins listed the speakers who have appeared at events other than Unity Day. The list includes Gov. Pataki, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Fox News host Chris Wallace and retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark.

