Preparing for Obama Event a Challenge Answered by UC Community

The rapid response capabilities of the UC family were tested this weekend and into Monday, when Illinois Sen. Barack Obama brought his presidential campaign to town for a major rally held in Fifth Third Arena on Monday afternoon.

Confirmation for the rally was only finalized around midday on Friday, making for a long weekend of preparation for a number of people at the university. The Obama campaign told the university to expect in excess of 10,000 supporters for the rally, making for a major logistical challenge considering it was to coincide with classes and all the other activities that normally go into a regular day during Winter Quarter at UC.

"We had many heroes in making the university a successful host for this event," said UC Vice President for Governmental Relations and University Communications Greg Vehr. "There was no hesitation that we could do something like this, but the question was: How can we best manage this for everyone involved?"

Vehr pointed to the UC Athletics Department as an excellent partner in hosting the event. In particular, Assistant Athletic Director for Facilities and Operations Dan Krone, Assistant Operations Manager Linda Neal and Facilities and Operations Administrative Coordinator Scott Wilhoit put in long hours in moving the arena from the mode of hosting high school basketball games over the weekend into becoming a venue ready for Monday’s event.

"The dedication was just outstanding," said Vehr. "I saw Scott Wilhoit, while he was dealing with Obama’s advance people in preparing the arena, pull double-duty and go out to shovel snow in Nippert Stadium so we could host our first-ever women’s lacrosse game. Scott and many others in Athletics worked selflessly to make things happen."

Among others deserving special commendation, Vehr said, were Lee Trost, a supervisor from UC Police involved in coordinating public safety aspects of the event, and Assistant Vice President for Governmental Relations and University Communications Donna Hamilton, who helped lead the effort to communicate information to the public about coming to campus for the event.

The rally led to the unusual sight at midday Monday of a line waiting to get into the arena that started on the plaza east of the building, wrapped around back past Marge Schott Stadium, the Lindner Center and the Trabert-Talbert Tennis Center, and then back up the walkway onto the sidewalk of Corry Boulevard back up the hill to the front of the Edwards Center.

Vehr said a similar level of short-notice cooperation was shown the week before by staff at Tangeman University Center, who were prepared to host an event in the Great Hall for Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Bad weather in Wisconsin forced the campaign to cancel the event.

"We’ve got a lot of people that work very hard here," said Vehr. "Not everyone realizes it all the time, but there are people here working day and night on challenges like these to deliver for UC."