Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will take the podium at Norwich University on Thursday, as part of the university’s College of Graduate and Continuing Studies.
The event is hosted by the Todd Lecture Series, as part of the online graduate program’s required week-long residency.
This week, 549 CGCS students come to Norwich for conferences, research presentations and commencement. Rice’s speech, which will take place at 10 a.m. in the Shapiro Field House, will serve as the keynote address for the event.
Norwich is expecting 3,000 attendees, Daphne Larkin, assistant director of communications, said. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Norwich professor Rowland Brucken, among others, has publicly opposed the invitation, raising objections to Rice’s and the Bush administration’s role in the war on terror.
Larkin said Norwich will have a designated protest area and campus security has met with a planner not affiliated with the university. Larkin said she did not anticipate problems.
“We have no problem with it,” she said. “We invite prominent people to campus to discuss these important issues.”
Another prominent female politician, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, comes to Vermont on Friday to speak at the Vermont Democratic Party’s annual Curtis awards. The event, a fundraiser for the party, will be held at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction. Doors open at 5 p.m. Attendees must purchase tickets in advance.
