As many of you already know, activists at Loyola University Chicago were planning to bring best-selling author and Young America’s Foundation lecturer Karl Rove to their campus for the fall semester. Administrators at the university, however, are claiming that Rove cannot speak because he is a “political” speaker, and that would put their 501(c)(3) tax status in jeopardy.

After listening to the objections of the students, and the reasoning that Karl Rove would not put Loyola’s tax status in jeopardy, administrators at Loyola have announced they are sticking to their decision. Karl Rove apparently is not welcome to speak on campus before the election. This is a blatant display of hypocrisy, and it will not be tolerated. 

In order to reassure University officials that their tax status is not in jeopardy, Young America’s Foundation has reached out to the Alliance Defense Fund to seek legal advice on the university’s behalf. ADF reassured us that Karl Rove coming to speak on October 19 would not put the university’s tax status in jeopardy.(Click here to read the letter)

News broke that the university is hosting Eboo Patel, an appointee of the Obama administration, to speak on campus. If the school is truly concerned about their tax status, they would not be hosting a representative of the Obama administration that has a vested interest in the fall elections.

Young America’s Foundation has scheduled Karl Rove to speak at a number of schools in the upcoming fall semester, including Yale University, Ball State University, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, High Point University, Oberlin College, and University of California – Merced. Loyola administrators are De facto claiming that schools hosting Karl Rove are violating tax laws.

The university clearly has a track record of hosting “political” events. Their “Inside Government” lecture series often hosts elected officials to address to the university. Further, university officials sent out a press release in March of 2006, exclaiming, “Political Experts Available to the Media.”