Thursday August 12, 2010
Catholic University Turns Down Obama Appearance Over Timing Issues
By Kathleen Gilbert
AUSTIN, Texas, August 12, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – St. Edward’s University, a Catholic institution of higher education that shares its founder with the University of Notre Dame, has rejected a request by President Obama to give a speech at the school.
University spokeswoman Mischelle Diaz stated that “St. Edward’s University is honored to have been considered a potential venue for President Obama’s recent visit to Austin,” but “Regretfully, it was not a good time for us to consider this.”
“With the short notice provided – only three to four days – a visit of this importance and magnitude would have been difficult for a campus of our size,” stated Diaz. “A presidential visit requires and deserves more resources than we were able to provide at the time.” Diaz said that “it is not a good time for us to divert resources away from the needs of incoming students” as the school gears up for the coming semester.
“In addition, as part of our thoughtful consideration, we had to acknowledge that the vast majority of our student body, and many faculty members, would not be present to participate in a presidential visit,” she added.
St. Edward’s Universty was founded by Holy Cross Father Edward Sorin, who also founded the University of Notre Dame. Diaz said in a later statement published by the Hilltop News that, despite parallels with Notre Dame’s decision to host the pro-abortion president, the school’s reasons for rejecting Obama were “logistical” in nature.
“It’s not that we weren’t honored to be in the pool. It just wasn’t a good time for us right now,” said Diaz.
Notre Dame caused an unprecedented nationwide uproar after allowing Mr. Obama to deliver the commencement address and receive an honorary law degree in May 2009. 80 active U.S. bishops and over 360,000 petitioning Catholics condemned the move, citing Obama’s fierce opposition to the rights of unborn children.
The occasion marked the second time St. Edward’s has rejected a request from Mr. Obama to appear on campus, the first time being in 2007 when Obama was a presidential candidate. At that time, Diaz said it was school policy not to accept a request by a political figure during a campaign.