By Gwendolyn Frei in Campus News, College Days on October 1, 2024
President Folse announces the Harris for President Campaign is set to visit campus on Oct. 3
President Victoria Folse emailed Ripon College faculty, staff, and student body Monday night at 8 p.m. to announce a campaign event set to occur on Thursday, Oct. 3 on the Ripon College campus.
“The Harris for President Campaign recently reached out to conference services to inquire about the College’s willingness to rent space… As we believe it is important to foster political discourse, civic engagement and thoughtful and respectful exchange of ideas, we have agreed,” she wrote.
Details on the event are limited at this point in time. Attendance is open to students, faculty, and the greater campus community. However, it is not guaranteed, as people who wish to attend must fill out a Google Form to be considered for admittance.
Folse’s email does not state who the special guest at the campaign is, though there will be a sweep of upper campus by Secret Service.
The event will require increased security on campus, thus, classes, extracurricular activities, and events have all been canceled for Thursday on upper campus. Additionally, “all afternoon classes and all afternoon athletic, academic and extracurricular activities on lower campus are canceled to provide the opportunity for all to fully participate.”
Folse stated that they are doing their best to ensure that there will be minimal disruptions to campus in the next few days, and there should not be any disruption to residential living.
Folse reiterated at the end of her email that “Ripon College does not endorse political candidates. If former President Trump, or Senator Vance, were to make a similar request, we would respond the same way, as we did in 2020 when then Vice President Pence spoke on campus.”
According to Folse, more information regarding the event will be available soon.
Update: 10/1/24
The Ripon Police Department has announced street closings and parking restrictions for the event on Thursday afternoon. The closings begin Wednesday evening.
“The following streets will be closed for traffic with parking restrictions:
1. Ransom St – between State St and Seward St- (partial road closure will begin on Weds Oct 02, at Noon)
2. Woodside Ave- between Thorne St and Seward St.
3. Elm St- between State St and Congress St.
4. Congress St- between Elm St and Locust St.
5. Parking will not be allowed on the Upper Ransom St Municipal Parking lot.”
“Additional Parking Restrictions may occur on Blackburn St. and E. Jackson St. Roads will reopen early Thursday evening,” they announced via Facebook.
More information regarding the event is expected in the next couple of days.
Update 10/2/14
Vice President Kamala Harris is confirmed to be on campus tomorrow Thursday, Oct. 3.