Author: Richie DeMaria
The week of Nov. 16 the ASOC Senate began its Obama Letter Writing Campaign, encouraging students to write letters asking President Obama to speak at Oxy. In addition to drafting its own letter, the Senate held lunchtime quad and Cooler sittings for a week and provided letter-writing materials for students interested in seeing the former Oxy student return to address the college.
The date of this potential visit remains uncertain. “Often, these decisions are based on the exigencies of the moment, so it’s hard to predict,” Oxy president Jonathan Veitch said. “We’re confident that sooner or later, the President will come back to Oxy.”
If he came, he would most likely do so after his tenure, ASOC president Andrew DeBlock (senior) said. “The chances of Obama speaking on campus at some point are very high,” he said. “The chances that he will speak here while he is in office are very slim.”
The ASOC Senate said that an Obama visit would be in line with Oxy’s mission statement and practices. In their letter to the President, the student senators appealed to Oxy’s commitment to service, calling Oxy an embodiment of “service and perseverance.”
First-year Senator Jessie Durrett stressed that Oxy’s core values are in line with the president’s. “Our mission and dedication to service is in line with his goals,” she said. Durrett emphasized that it was this commitment that inspired such strong support at Oxy for Obama. “It’s not about partisanship – it’s his ideals, his outlook, not what party you vote for.”
The senators intend to highlight Oxy’s involvement on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service in their letter. For the event, Oxy will host and participate in numerous community service projects in the surrounding neighborhood. Founded in 1994, the nationwide day of volunteering saw its largest turnout in 2009, fueled by Obama’s inaugural call to action.
In addition, the campaign hopes to draw upon Obama’s celebrity. Proponents believe an Obama visit would considerably raise Oxy’s visibility and appeal.
“A visit from Obama would cause our application pool to skyrocket, improve nationwide recognition of this institution, excite the student body to the point of explosion, improve the somewhat poor relations that Oxy students and the community currently have with one another, bring a flood of alumni donations, and more,” Safransky said.
“Not only will the student body benefit by having Obama come and hearing him speak, but Oxy will also get the privilege of having hosted the U.S. president,” letter-writer Utsav Patwardhan (first-year) said.Obama’s image has proven lucrative for Oxy. The bookstore sells a line of BarOxy Wear, clothing and souvenirs emblazoned with his image or speech slogans, and the school now offers Obama-themed tours. A recently installed library display case covers Obama’s Oxy years.
This is just the beginning, however. According to an Oct. 9 Wall Street Journal article, the administration is considering making his two-year enrollment more visible with an Obama statue, an Obama-inspired reading room, an Obama lecture series and more.
“If one wants to understand the value of the liberal arts, one need look no farther than the careers of Oxy’s two most famous students, Jack Kemp ’57 and Obama ’83. Kemp returned to campus on a number of occasions; we hope the president will do the same,” Veitch said.
“My hope is that the school goes beyond using Obama as a fundraising and recruitment tool and consults students and faculty on how to allocate resources and funding to classes and outside programing that encourage political efficacy,” DeBlock said. “As it stands, we are certainly touting the school’s connection to Obama at every possible opportunity, for better or worse.”
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