The Jacksonville University administration sent out a campus wide email to all students, faculty, and staff promoting a Hillary Clinton campaign event in Jacksonville on Thursday, but made no mention of the Donald Trump rally taking place on the same day in the area.
The Clinton rally featured President Barack Obama as the speaker and was held close to the same time as the Trump event; both events were also close to 20 minutes away from campus. However, the JU administration offered free tickets and promotion for the pro-Clinton event, while ignoring the Trump rally.
The university specifically offered 150 free tickets to hear Obama “promote Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.”
A second pro-Clinton piece of literature was sent out to JU via a flyer courtesy of the Florida Democratic Party, “[Obama] will lay out the high stakes of November’s election for Florida families and highlight Hillary Clinton’s vision for an America that is strong together, with an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.”
Florida College Republicans Chair Cade Marsh made a statement on the matter, “I think it’s discouraging that institutions of higher learning aren’t playing fair when it comes to advancing or advocating for a wide array of political ideologies,” he said. “This is a systematic problem, where there’s a disconnect between the administration and the will of the students, and it’s something that continues to backfire.”
Red Alert Politics reached out to Jacksonville University for comment and the administration’s response was, “We were contacted by the Clinton campaign and were asked to serve as a ticket distribution site for Obama’s visit to Jacksonville.”
