Cupola Conversations – “Preparing for 2020: Political Visits to Greenville”

The Division of Student Affairs will host the first scheduled Cupola Conversations for the Fall 2019 semester.  This session is titled “Preparing for 2020: Political Visits to Greenville” on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at 5:30 p.m. in the Main Campus Student Center Room 249.

We are 15 months away from the next major election day and politicians will be sweeping the country making campaign visits and appearances on or near college campuses.  President Donald Trump made the first of those campaign stops this summer and many other politicians are expected to visit North Carolina and perhaps eastern North Carolina.

During recent elections, Greenville has been a key political stop for many Republicans and Democrats running for local, state and national offices. What is the role of a college campus when a campaign requests to rent space? How do free speech and constitutional rights factor into these visits? How does ECU manage a large-scale event visit like this from a safety, security and financial perspective?

As in previous years, Cupola Conversations will feature a panel of ECU students, faculty, and staff to address these questions and many others. The panelists for this program are:

• Dan Gerlach – ECU Interim Chancellor
• Colin Johnson – ECU SGA President
• Virginia Hardy – Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
• Anisa Zvonkovic – Dean of College of Health and Human Performance

Cupola Conversations is a program developed by the Division of Student Affairs in Fall 2016 intended to create informal opportunities for the university community to engage in constructive dialogue about various topics, some of which may be high interest.