Megan Trotter | news editor

Throughout this election season The Duke has covered surrounding Pittsburgh campuses that have hosted political candidates. While Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh have held speaker events featuring Vice President Kamala Harris, Dave McCormick and former President Barack Obama, Duquesne has not followed suit.

Sophomore Bobby Latham, administrator of the College Republicans Club at Duquesne, said he believes this is because Duquesne has a brand and an image to uphold.

“I think that they really try hard to put the kibosh on anything out of fear of controversy. I think they’ve done a good job at keeping a stable campus environment,” Latham said. “[But] I think it’d be at the cost of student expression.”

According to Duquesne University Vice President for Marketing and Communications Gabriel Welsch, if the university were to use its resources to support candidate’s visits then it would have to make the same provision for opposing candidates.

“The university understands and promotes the importance of political engagement and has hosted political figures at various times over the years, from both major parties and who represent a range of political views. However, none of those figures were actively campaigning. Going back for decades, Duquesne has followed a policy of not inviting speakers who are actively campaigning for office, to avoid any perception of taking sides in political matters,” Welsch said.

According to The Administrative Policies 27, the university must fulfill certain requirements set forth Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, which states that Duquesne qualifies for tax exemption provided that the university does not participate in or intervene in any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for public office.

Welsch declined to comment on how much value Duquesne saves receiving the tax exemption.

William Blumel, a senior and president of the Young Democrats, said the regulations in TAP 27 have had a large restriction on the political activity taking place on Duquesne’s campus during the 2024 presidential race.

“All political activity on campus has to be nonpartisan, we’re not allowed to have just one singular candidate on campus for an event. If we were to do something with a political candidate, both parties would have to be involved in that in order to make that happen,” Blumel said.

Latham said that because of TAP 27 the College Republicans and other political organizations have had an uphill battle sharing their party’s beliefs on campus.

“I’m glad there’s not a lot of unruly protests going on like that, I understand. But I do think we should definitely be able to loosen the restrictions on the tabling,” he said.

According to Latham, the College Republicans have to be careful of not including partisan topics during their tabling events or any information on political candidates’ policies.

Unlike Latham, Katelyn Waranavage, president of Political Science Club and the secretary general of Model United Nations, said she thinks Duquesne has done a good job allowing students to be politically active through their organizations on campus.

The political science senior said that many people who wish to hear candidates speak have traveled to surrounding campuses for these types of events.

Other students expressed concern that avoiding the topic of current political candidates might be counterproductive.

“I think avoiding those types of debates when you’re trying to learn more specifically about certain issues is somewhat helpful, but I think that sometimes you have to have those types of questions that might seem to be more partisan, because something might just be the truth, but trying to avoid it because it might offend one side of the aisle isn’t as helpful for education,” Blumel said.

Latham said he would also like to see Duquesne doing more to educate students on political activity.

“I definitely think Duquesne should do some bare minimum … like getting your student body educated on ‘here’s how elections work and here are the people running,’” Latham said.

One of the ways Latham suggests Duquesne could be doing better to educate students about the election is through hosting more political speaker series, similar to an event that the Department of Political Science just held where two political science experts debated populism, while a Duquesne professor moderates and opens the conversation for students to discuss.

“I think hosting political speakers would allow people to see, especially if you go and see them talk in person, it would allow you to get a viewpoint on somebody which is shaped by your personal anecdote rather than something you read in the newspaper,” Latham said. “This gets people … to think for themselves, to do the thinking. Because a lot of people in our generation, in our age group, it’s a lot easier to have somebody do the thinking for you.”

Under TAP 27 providing a forum for candidate debates is allowed as long as: the debate is open to all candidates for the contested office, debate topics cover a broad range of issues, the questions presented to the candidates are developed or reviewed by an independent, non-partisan group, the moderator’s role is limited to ensuring the debate ground rules are followed and the debate begins and ends with a statement that the views presented are those of the candidates alone.

Blumel said the university has a tight line to teeter on in regard to how to properly educate students about the election and many political science professors have avoided mentioning the candidates.

“None of my professors have addressed the topic, and that includes three political science professors. Nobody has said anything,” Latham said in a similar sentiment. “The university has done nothing.”

Duquesne University President Ken Gormley did send a student wide email on Monday encouraging students to vote; however classes are not canceled on Nov. 5.

“Like most employers in the United States, the university has never closed for an election day. As an institution of higher learning, the university does not cancel a core mission activity, like classes, for election days, nor has it done so for any elections in the past,” Welsch said.

Latham said that he feels Duquesne has failed to do the bare minimum.

“As a university, the purpose of a university being the free exchange of ideas. I would certainly say they … should have a responsibility to bring differing views to campus.”