Chancellor Sean Parnell said the University of Alaska Anchorage cannot stop Save America from holding a rally with Donald Trump at the campus arena, after several students, faculty and staff called for its cancellation.
“As a publicly funded university it would be both illegal and unconstitutional to prevent a group from leasing university facilities based on speech that may occur in the facility or speech that we disagree with,” Parnell said in an email to the UAA community.
Parnell wrote that free speech rights and other legal considerations are at the forefront of the decision to allow the Trump rally to proceed as planned.
Ian Hartman, UAA faculty Senate president, lambasted the decision, saying it will “further marginalize vulnerable communities in Anchorage and throughout the nation.”
Katie Scoggin, who leads the UAA Union of Students, said that the organization objects to the “hate, racism, violence, and division that Trump spews and encourages.”
At issue is an all-day Trump rally scheduled for Saturday at the Alaska Airlines Center, a 5,000-seat arena on the UAA campus, where the former president is expected to endorse the Alaska political campaigns of Sarah Palin, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Kelly Tshibaka.
Parnell said in a July 1 email to the UAA community that the administration has no legal basis for refusing to lease the arena to Save America.
Parnell further stated that UAA also has a legal and ethical obligation to allow the political rally to proceed as planned. Parnell said it was part of UAA’s mission to “safeguard freedom of expression on campus.”
But Hartman accused UAA leaders of justifying the event at UAA “under the guise of free speech.”
He said the decision “disingenuously cedes a platform to a figure who has routinely expressed through deeds, words, and policies an open hostility to the very values that define this university.”
Hartman said that his statements do not reflect the views of all faculty members nor are they an official faculty position.
Many students also are questioning or objecting to the rally at UAA because of the “hate, violence, racism and division encouraged” by Trump, the president of UAA’s Union of Students said Wednesday.
Scoggin said that her organization has been contacted by many students concerned about the upcoming Trump rally at the UAA arena.
Scoggin said that “a student shared his letter with us and I believe his last sentence sums it up well: ‘National politics have no place on university campuses, and a Trump rally has no place at UAA.’ ”
‘Chancellor is on leave and out of town’
The chancellor’s office said Wednesday that Parnell was unavailable to respond to concerns expressed by campus leaders to the News-Miner.
“The chancellor is on leave and out of town for a family matter that was planned long before the inception of this event,” said Austin Osborne, director of UAA public relations.
But in his July 1 email to the campus community, Parnell emphasized that UAA is not “hosting” the rally; it is renting the facility to rally organizers.
The university is leasing the space for $53,000 to Save America, the political action committee established by Trump. The chancellor’s office described the rental fee as fair market value for the venue.
The Save America PAC did not respond to a request for comment from the News-Miner about its plans for the rally and the expected turnout.
The Union of Students — which represents the UA student body — said in an earlier press release that it is not objecting to how UA leaders managed leasing the arena to rally organizers.
“University leadership handled the rental request for the arena “through an objective lens, without regard for political affiliation and in compliance with regulation,” the group said.
The Union of Students is questioning how the high-profile rally will impact UAA’s reputation in Alaska and nationally as the university system tries to rebound from several years of budget and program cuts, Scoggin said.
UAA campus safety and security
The organization raised concerns about the safety and security of students and campus community members in light of the violence by Trump supporters at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the nation’s Capitol.
“We vehemently object to the hate, racism, violence, and division that Trump spews and encourages,” Scoggin said.
“We also believe that this event could harm UAA’s public image and that our students do not feel safe given the proximity of the Alaska Airlines Center to the residential campus, for Trump has a history of encouraging and inciting violence at his rallies,” Scoggin said.
In his July 1 message to the UAA community, Parnell wrote that UAA is focused on securing the campus and not disrupting university activities.
He noted that the university is working with campus and city partners to mitigate the impact on campus life.
Parnell said that the U.S. Secret Service is “planning all aspects of security in coordination with local partners.”
The chancellor’s office said in an emailed statement to the News-Miner: “We are working to address the questions being asked via our public statements and messages, particularly in regard to safety, security and impact on the UAA campus, but many of these details are still in the planning stage.
“Regardless of the messages we receive in opposition or support of the event taking place, UAA’s legal obligation to lease facilities on an objective basis irrespective of viewpoint or beliefs does not change.”
