Logistics Still In Works As Metro Campus
Prepares For Presidential Visit
By Bronson Peshlakai
Associate Editor, Metro Campus
President Barack Obama will talk to students, faculty/staff and the public at a campaign rally to be held at Cuyahoga Community College Metropolitan Campus Thursday afternoon, June 14.
In an effort to gain campaign support in Ohio, a key-swing state once again in the upcoming presidential election, the president is expected to address a crowd of up to 1500 people at the Tri-C Metro Recreation Center Gymnasium sometime early Thursday afternoon.
The event is free to the public, but a limited amount of tickets are available to Tri-C students and faculty, and the general public. Student reservations for a single ticket per person can be made in person, by phone, or by e-mail no later than Tuesday morning. (See side bar.)
Event attendees will be allowed into the gymnasium at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.
The announcement made late Sunday evening has Tri-C college officials scrambling to the get the logistics under control along with U.S. Secret Service to secure the downtown campus in preparation of the presidential visit.
A campus-wide e-mail said more information about parking would be made available to those attending when they pick-up a reserved ticket at their respective Student Affairs offices located on all campuses Tuesday between 1 and 5 p.m.
“All attendees will go through security; no bags will be permitted,” Melissa Swafford, a coordinator at the Metro Campus Student Life Office, told a student organization in an e-mail.
“For students here taking classes and who have book bags here will be able to store them at the auditorium lobby coat check area that will serve as a secure bag check,” Swafford said. “We know a lot of students come here by bus; we don’t want people just leaving their books anywhere that is not secure. “
While campus-wide e-mails are giving students up-to-date information, clear plans on where parking and other logistical concerns are still being formulated.
“We have no information on parking at this point,” said Lindsay English, interim associate dean of liberal arts at Tri-C, who is one of the officials planning the campus visit. “This is going to be a moving target. Information is going to be coming out between now and Thursday as things become finalized.“
Christine Jindra, Tri-C executive director of marketing , said more information about gym and recreational center closures, parking closures, and shuttle bus information will be released as soon as plans are confirmed.
One of the topics Obama is expected to address is the action Congress needs to take to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling in a few weeks.
“Congress needs to act,” White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters June 7, while the president was traveling to speak at UNLV in Las Vegas. “There have been some positive signs that Republicans agree with the president that we need to get this done so that more than 7 million students don’t have the rude surprise of seeing the rates on their loans double.”
More information about the Tri-C presidential visit will be made available on our Website daily, and The Voice newspaper is planning team coverage for its online edition at cccvoice.com.
