President Donald Trump’s Rally in Minges

President Donald Trump's Rally in Minges
President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd inside Minges. Image Source: http://www.piratemedia1.com/news/article_b15a316e-aa69-11e9-bcb6-3f153cef4efc.html

On July 17, 2019, Donald Trump became the second sitting president ever to visit ECU and the third – following George Washington and George W. Bush – to come to Greenville. That day, Trump staged a campaign event, the “Keep America Great” rally, in Minges Coliseum as an early installment in his campaign for reelection in 2020. In the wake of the 2001 Bush rally, Minges had become a popular campaign venue with events featuring Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, Michelle Obama in 2012, and then Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, also in 2012. A distinctly political dimension of ECU history thus unfolded at Minges Coliseum that went well beyond basketball games and graduation ceremonies, lifting the school and the state to new levels of national scrutiny. However, the 2019 Trump rally established that political fame often brings, in its wake, infamy.

The 2019 Minges rally was not Trump’s first visit to Greenville. In 2016, while running against the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton, Trump spoke at a sizable rally at the Greenville Convention Center, and later carried the state and won the presidential election. Just days before the general election, Trump’s running mate Mike Pence also staged a small campaign stop at the Rock Springs Center outside Greenville. But neither the Republican nor Democratic candidates appeared on the ECU campus for campaign stops in 2016. Hillary Clinton somehow failed to grasp what the 2008 Obama campaign had clearly seen: the significance of a Greenville/ECU rally for securing the region and the state. Instead, Clinton chose to campaign in Winterville – and then, only five days before the November election – at Pitt Community College. Her husband, former president Bill Clinton came to Greenville twice, first for a small rally Uptown at Five Points, and then next, the day before the November election, for an unannounced, impromptu visit on campus in front of Joyner Library. The most prominent and well-planned Clinton campaign stop at ECU took the form of daughter Chelsea Clinton’s appearance as part of a rally in Mendenhall Student Center. Trump’s rally at the Greenville Convention Center was by far the town’s biggest political event of the 2016 election. For whatever reason, ECU had been all but left out of the mix.

Trump’s July 2019 rally changed that in a major way. As the venue for a presidential visit, Minges instantly became a focus of national media coverage. Even before the rally began, news of it prompted immediate social media controversy with some students and ECU supporters voicing, on Twitter, their reservations about the rally, even as others sought to promote it. One student declared her intent to take her “tuition dollars elsewhere.” A recent alumna declared that she had “never been so disappointed.” Another student tweeted, “Trump coming to ECU is my sign to LEAVE.” In another Twitter comment, Abbey Friday, a junior at ECU, stated, “I don’t think the university should welcome Trump to use its facilities when the university is home to thousands of students who feel oppressed by Trump and his supporters.” However, ECU College Republicans, a student group on campus, took great pride in the upcoming rally and took to Twitter to promote it among their following.

ECU officially distanced itself from the rally, denying that it had invited the president to campus. In a public statement, the school explained, “ECU is not hosting this event, serving as a sponsor or endorsing this specific candidate in any way. We are simply renting the facilities to the Donald J. Trump Campaign in accordance with the ECU Use of University Property Regulation.” ECU spokesperson Jeannine Manning Hutson added that ECU’s decision to rent Minges to the Trump Campaign “demonstrates ECU’s commitment to protecting freedom of expression through the First Amendment.” She added, “Any non-profit or for-profit organization, including presidential campaigns, can request to rent space on campus.” Still, the Trump Campaign request apparently had been vetted by ECU Athletics and approved by the interim chancellor, Dan Gerlach, and then negotiated by the university attorney’s office. For three days use of Minges, the Trump Campaign paid ECU $13,500 rent.

Controversy turned red hot following the Trump rally. During the rally, reportedly 30-35% of the sold-out Minges crowd began chanting “Send her back, send her back,” apparently in reference to U. S. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. A Muslim woman, Omar immigrated to the U.S. from Somalia as a child and became an American citizen as a teen. She was elected to the House of Representatives in 2018 and soon thereafter emerged as a vocal critic of Trump, declaring her intent to be “the president’s nightmare.” Omar’s outspoken opposition to Trump prompted him to declare, “She’s lucky to be where she is…. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.” Trump’s assessment was soon reformulated by his supporters in the “Send her back” chant. Well before the Minges rally, the offensive chant had become a favorite of some Trump supporters, but never before had it been so heartily repeated in front of the president and captured on national TV. In the wake of popular outrage over the Minges rally, Trump disavowed the chant but called those in the crowd “incredible patriots.”

Upon learning of the Trump rally, Tremayne Smith, an ECU alumnus and former student body president, co-authored a letter – sent to interim chancellor Dan Gerlach – denouncing “the hateful vitriol” and condemning the actions of the Trump supporters in no uncertain terms. Smith’s letter garned signatures of hundreds of alumni, faculty members, and former students. It also criticized the university for not having taken a more vocal position on the matter: “Silence by anyone in the face of blatant bigotry and racism is complicity. So fellow Pirates, University administration, and all citizens for that matter, continue standing up and speaking out against hate in all forms.” The letter added, “We are appalled by the racist chant that occurred at the President’s rally on the campus of our beloved alma mater.”

Although Gerlach did not make subsequent statements about the rally, the mayor of Greenville, P. J. Connelly stated publicly that he was “extremely disappointed and disheartened by the chant.” Connelly added, “Greenville is more than just a city. It is our home. It is a diverse place – a place of compassion and acceptance. An inclusive place where everyone, regardless of race, religion or political beliefs, is welcome…. Hate will never have a place in our community. The behavior that was on display last night is not reflective of the Greenville I know and love.” Without denouncing the crowd’s behavior at the Trump rally, ECU, in yet another statement, added, “We encourage and welcome civil discourse on our campus. The U. S. Constitution allows the intellectual and individual freedom of expression that enables us to live our mission. These freedoms do not protect the right to hear and listen to only what is convenient and agreeable but do protect the right to be able to respond and express one’s own views. We will facilitate such conversations on the campus in the fall.” The statement added that the university community seeks to live by “the ‘ECU Creed’ in working toward a community which cherishes diversity and values the community and nation.” The statement was signed by the interim chancellor and all top-level vice chancellors at ECU.

Due to the COVID pandemic, mass rallies, presidential or otherwise, are not likely for ECU during the 2020 presidential campaign season. Nevertheless, the school’s commitment to the free expression of thoughts and ideas plus its concentration of young and idealistic voters all but assures that in elections to come candidates of all stripes will seek out a campus location in their own quests to serve as political leaders.

Sources

Citation Information

Title: President Trump's Rally in Minges, 2019

Author: John A. Tucker, PhD

Date of Publication: 8/13/2020

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