Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's scheduled trip to Miami University yesterday was canceled due to a scheduling conflict, according to Co-Chair of Miami's College Republicans Briana Sakach.
Cain's scheduler told College Republicans Cain would not be able to come Thursday night, as originally planned, and wanted to move him up to 2 p.m. However, Sakach said because many College Republicans and Miami students have class during that time, they decided it would be too hard to hold the speech then. The group and Cain's scheduler decided to cancel and reschedule a more convenient time.
"We are going to try to bring Cain back either late spring or probably early next fall," Sakach said.
Cain had been booked to come to Miami since a week after spring break Sakach said, and he was only canceled about a week and a half ago. Fortunately, College Republicans had not yet paid the speaker's fee because they were not far enough along in the process to sign an actual contract, so the club lost no money, Sakach said.
"We were definitely disappointed but understanding," Sakach said. "We understand Cain has a very busy schedule being who he is, and with Easter, finals and other events at the end of the semester approaching, Miami students are busy themselves in April."
Miami students had a wide range of opinions regarding Cain's cancellation and appearance on campus.
First-year Jarett Engle said he had not heard of Cain's upcoming speech.
"I had no idea he was coming, but that's really disappointing that he the decided not to come," Engle said.
Junior Chris Hemmelgarn said he thought Cain would have brought an important message to Miami.
"Even though he dropped out of the race for presidency, I think he would have had a lot of good, valid and valuable things to say to Miami students," Hemmelgarn said.
Sakach said College Republicans wanted to bring Cain to campus because of his recent publicity as a result of his presidential candidacy and his Republican ideals.
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"Cain, being a former presidential candidate, has a lot of name recognition, is on the lower end of what we could fit in our budget and could really bring in and talk about the core Republican values that we stand for," Sakach said.
Cain was also scheduled to prepare Miami students for next week's College Republican's Conservative Week on campus, according to Sakach.
Due to the short notice, the group may schedule another speaker in Cain's place for next week, but it would most likely be a smaller-scale speaker, like an Ohio Republican politician, Sakach said.
Next week, College Republicans will be handing out promotional materials, highlighting Second Amendment Day, talking about gun rights as well as discussing gas prices and promoting the Keystone Pipeline Project.
Sakach said the main goal of College Republicans and Conservative Week is to make others aware of College Republican values and show the importance of student awareness of political issues today, with or without the help of Cain's influence.
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