Students should get equal access to Rice speech

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will deliver the keynote address for the Wilson School's 75th anniversary celebration. For this important talk, the Wilson School students are guaranteed seats, while the rest of the student body must bank their chances on the lottery system.

It is fairly common for the department hosting an event to offer special opportunities to its own students, such as an exclusive reception or meal before or after the speaker's talk. However, an event with this level of civic and cultural importance is not the proper venue for an exercise in exclusivity. Rice's address will be of interest to students from a wide range of majors, and thus should be equally accessible to all who wish to attend. Wilson School majors have no greater academic need to see Rice than politics majors, or the many students in sociology, economics or religion whose scholastic interests extend into the realm of American politics. A politics major studying conservative political thought, a sociology student studying the media's representation of major political figures and a Wilson School major studying the ins and outs of policy making should all have an equal opportunity to see Rice. Of course, students do not need to be social science majors to benefit from Rice's speech. Many engineers, scientists and English majors also aspire to public service and would benefit from hearing such a distinguished public servant speak.

Fortunately, the event planners had the foresight to schedule the event for Jadwin Gymnasium, rather than Richardson Auditorium where former Secretary of State Colin Powell's address took place. While the gymnasium certainly lacks the ambience and intimacy of Richardson, its 3,500 person capacity should be a welcome change from Richardson for the countless students who viewed Powell's speech by simulcast. Folding chairs will also be placed on floor of the gymnasium, further expanding the number of students who will be able to attend. Nevertheless, this capacity will still not guarantee all students entry to Rice's address.

It is tempting to connect this example of exclusivity to the existence of a selective major. And while this is not the place to (once again) raise the question of a selective major's appropriateness for the Princeton community, it is safe to say that extending this culture of selectivity to include such perks is unfair to the rest of the student body.