News > May 1, 2008

By Elliot Engstrom | News editor

Rumors abounded for weeks that presidential hopeful Senator John McCain would visit the university May 6. The rumors were recently confirmed as fact by both the McCain campaign and the university news service. The event is expected to begin at 10 a.m. on May 6 in Wait Chapel, but the chapel’s doors will open at 8 a.m.

click to enlarge

Sen. John McCain will speak at 10 a.m. May 6 in Wait Chapel. (Photo courtesy of http://whoisjohnmccain.name/)

Students noticed near the end of April that a speech at the university had been added to the list of upcoming events on the senator’s Web site. Campaign officials have said that guests at the event will include former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina and U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olsen.

Thompson and Brownback, both former rivals of McCain in the race for the Republican nomination for president of the United States, will now visit the university supporting the Arizona senator.

McCain will be the second presidential candidate to accept the invitation that President Nathan O. Hatch extended in 2007 to all Republican and Democratic presidential hopefuls to speak at the university. The first was Sen. Hillary Clinton, who spoke with Reynolds Professor of American Studies Maya Angelou in Wait Chapel April 18.

However, while Clinton visited a state that will be extremely important in the upcoming primary, McCain does not come to the university under the same circumstances.

Having already clinched the nomination to be the Republican candidate for President of the United States, McCain does not have to worry about winning the upcoming North Carolina primary.

Despite the upcoming election, the university has been very careful to say that its hosting of political candidates in no means equals an endorsement of these candidates.

The university may not engage in any political campaign activity due to its status as a tax-exempt organization.

“As an educational institution, Wake Forest is committed to promoting the free exchange of ideas, which includes providing a forum for speakers who express a wide variety of political views,” the news service said in a press release.

“The university’s tax-exempt status … requires that it not engage in any political campaign activity, which means the university is prohibited from endorsing or opposing any candidate for public office. Wake Forest takes its obligation in this regard very seriously.”

The event adds to an impressive list of speakers who have visited the university over the past this year including Hillary Clinton, Kenneth Star, Bob Schieffer and Daniel Ellsberg.

More information may be released by McCain’s campaign and the university on specifics regarding the senator’s visit in the coming week.