On August 12, Rep. Lloyd Smucker, spoke to F&M’s football and wrestling team. No one else on campus was told of the Congressman’s visit, and the only current record of the event was a post published to Smucker’s Facebook on August 18, a week after the visit, and F&M wrestling’s Instagram.
Smucker currently represents Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional district; PA-11 is categorized by the Cook Political Voting Index as R+11, a comfortably Republican area. Notably however, Smucker had not responded to invitations from F&M Votes in previous years to appear at the college; this makes his one-off appearance on a college campus quite rare.
The talk took place one day into the teams’ preseason, inside the Lisa Bonchek Adams Auditorium in Kaufman Hall.
Having been coordinated through the Office of the President, when asked whether the event had been closed-door, F&M President Andrew Rich disputed the framing. “That’s not true,” adding that “It was open to anyone on campus.” Rich emphasized that it was not irregular nor uncommon for sitting Representatives to visit college campuses to speak to their constituents. When pressed regarding why it wasn’t announced to that same campus, Rich said the school year hadn’t “picked up” yet.
However, many other summer events on campus were publicized. Ampersand, F&M’s event registration platform, listed “Coffee and Conversation with Megan Lombardo: Insights into the Film Industry” on June 24th, a “Student Employees Rita’s Italian Ice Social” on July 22nd. Plenty of other events were routinely announced through the student mailing list such as F&M Summer Networking Reception on July 27th. All of these were posted or announced publicly weeks ahead of the actual events, Smucker’s visit never appeared on any platform available to F&M students. When asked if they knew of Smucker’s visit, various students who were on campus over the summer said no.
Of everyone on campus that week–faculty, staff, student researchers, student workers–the only people who knew a sitting congressman was in the building were the ones already seated in front of him.
Smucker wasn’t the only notable individual in the room. Ken Mehlman, an F&M trustee and vice chair of the college’s board of trustees, was present. In November, he made the largest athletic donation in the school’s history: $7.5 million in funding for the construction of the Mehlman Center for Strength, Conditioning, Wellness and Performance. Mehlman also spent 2005 to 2007 as chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Kyle Deisley, a member of the F&M wrestling team, introduced the two men. What Melman and Smucker discussed is not on record. However, Rich said the talk was solely focused on the themes of leadership.
Congressmember Smucker has not held or attended a public in-person town hall meeting since April 2014, while he was a PA state senator, three years before he took his House seat. Asked earlier this year while in a meeting with the Lancaster Online editorial board if that would change, Smucker said he was “not interested in a room of folks yelling at one another.” Instead, his office runs tele-town halls, where callers submit questions in advance and staff selects participants.
Alison Kibler, Professor of American Studies and Women’s, Gender & Sexuality Studies, shared that she only knew of the visit because she followed the representative’s Facebook page. She voiced her concern over F&M’s publicity of the event–or lack thereof. As a Lancaster resident herself, she was disappointed to not have been notified of the congressman’s visit. Kibler says she views Smucker as her “political opponent”, but would welcome the representative’s presence on campus in a public setting, or for that matter, any other controversial speakers. She expressed wariness over the inexistence of the college’s publicity of the event, as it prides itself on the emphasis of leadership, whereas Smucker was able to produce a Facebook post out of the visit. Frustrated at being unable to peacefully protest or ask questions, in any capacity, to the congressman, she said there would have been “plenty of people” who would value the opportunity to speak to him in person. Students or anyone interested can see a statement she made posted on the Protest Tree, directly in front of the campus bookstore.
Despite claiming to be an environment that invites diverse thought and discussion, F&M has allowed Smucker to continue his history of refraining from public debate. Our football team received access to a congressman, a major donor, and the president of the college. The rest of the campus received a Facebook post.
This piece has been written by a Staff Reporter. If you have any further questions please reach out to Editor-in-Chief Lily Andrey at landrey@fandm.edu