Reich stands up College Democrats

Gubernatorial candidate Robert Reich canceled two appearances to speak at Boston University on short notice, according to members of the BU College Democrats.

According to College Democrats member Ellen Weis, who was the contact person for the events, Reich was originally scheduled to come to the University on Sept. 8 at 7 p.m.

However, Weis said Mike Moschella, the student coordinator from Reich’s office, called her back on Sept. 6, letting her know Reich could not make it. Shawn White, the president of the College Democrats, said he understood the first time.

“He called us the Thursday before and canceled,” White said. “They said something came up, he couldn’t make it and he needed to be in western Massachusetts.”

However, Weis said she continued to work with Reich’s office in trying to bring the former Labor Secretary to the University to speak with students and Boston residents.

“I left a message for Mike [Moschella] seeing if decisions had been made over the weekend and whether or not Reich would come,” Weis said. “I talked to Tom Reese, the events coordinator. He said they didn’t know [if Reich could come] but he was unsure.”

However, Weis said things began to look up when she got a positive response from Reich’s office later that same day, Sept. 9.

“Later on the day, they said it was a go and said ‘Let’s do what we can do here,'” Weis said. “There were some logistics to get worked out and they were looking at a different room.”

On Sept. 10, Weis said she received a voicemail from Reese, saying the event would go ahead.

“I talked to SAO, [talked to] the programmer and made sure the room was available and everything would be set up for that,” Weis said. “Then we were like ‘Okay, this is great.'”

Then on Sept. 11, the College Democrats spent $50 to hire a technician for the event and spent $35 on making copies of fliers, Weis said. On the morning of Sept. 12, they posted the fliers around campus, advertising the event. However, later in the day, Weis said she received another call from Reich’s office.

“It was around 3:30 [yesterday] afternoon when Mike Moschella called me and said he was sorry but it was canceled,” Weis said. “They said that there were two other events at the same time on Sat, and that they had scheduled them and there was no way they could get out of it.”

Dorie Clark, the press secretary for the Reich campaign, confirmed that Reich’s office had canceled both events.

“Boston University is one of the schools we have been interested in reaching out to,” Clark said. “But due to the chaotic nature of the campaign, the campaign had attempted to schedule a couple of events at BU, but because of schedule changes, we had to cancel those events.”

Clark said she hoped the students who were affected by Reich’s repeated cancellations would understand and still offer their support in the primary.

“We feel badly about that, but still very much hope to receive the support of students at Boston University,” Clark said.

However, some of the College Democrats said they would not be that forgiving, and probably would not want to help the campaign.

“To campaign by saying education is important, and that students and young people are the labor capital of the country, [and then] to turn around and screw them because something has come up that’s more important goes against this whole campaign,” White said. “We don’t understand what they’re thinking or doing.”

Carl Woog, a member of the College Democrats, said they invited all four gubernatorial candidates to meet with students, and Woog said Former State Sen. Warren Tolman took the opportunity to meet with him.

“Warren Tolman has taken the opportunity to speak to members of the College Dems,” Woog said. “He met with me the week of the debate to understand the views of the college student, and we appreciate that.

“I believe he’ll make good on his promises,” Woog said.