Trump may be the first Republican presidential candidate to campaign at Temple

Donald Trump may become the first Republican presidential candidate to hold a campaign event on Temple’s campus when he speaks at the Liacouras Center on Saturday.

James W. Hilty, a retired Temple professor and campus historian who wrote a book on the university’s history published in 2010, said he found no evidence of a Republican candidate campaigning on the campus through that time. That’s at least “no one who left any record of a visit in any newspaper, book, magazine, or the Temple archives.”

University spokesperson Steve Orbanek confirmed none have campaigned on campus in at least the last decade either.

Democrats, by comparison, have appeared frequently, including Hillary Clinton in 2016. Hilty noted that Franklin Roosevelt came in 1936, an election year, to dedicate Sullivan Hall, the main administration building. John Kennedy made a campaign stop in 1960, Lyndon Johnson in 1964, George McGovern in 1972, Jimmy Carter in 1980, John Kerry in 2004, and Barack Obama in 2008.

Most recently, the Liacouras Center has been used by Democrats during the 2022 Pennsylvania midterms. President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama joined forces with then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro amid their respective senatorial and gubernatorial campaigns.

In a message to the university community on Saturday, after Trump’s visit was announced, Temple emphasized a nonpartisan standpoint and shared that it’s common for political events to occur on campus during election season. The university added that it makes spaces available to rent for third-party organizations regardless of their politics. Trump’s visit does not qualify as the university’s endorsement of the former president, the university said.

“Temple is committed to protecting the First Amendment including freedom of speech and assembly,” wrote university president Richard Englert and chief operating officer Ken Kaiser. “This means that Temple fosters an environment open to a diversity of thought, opinion and peaceful expression.”

Despite the university’s statement, the Temple Association of University Professors, the faculty union, said in an email to its members Thursday that they were disappointed to hear of Trump’s rally on campus.

”While we firmly believe in free speech and the right to assembly, we are also deeply troubled by the decision to associate the Temple community with Donald Trump,” they wrote.

The union, which is currently amid negotiations for a new contract with the administration, said the university has resisted proposals to add protections for academic freedom to a new contract.

”We proposed a new article … to protect academic freedom, including freedom of speech inside and outside the classroom, as well as freedom from surveillance, for all members of our bargaining unit,” they wrote. “Where is the commitment to protecting open debate and free inquiry for the Temple community?”