By Laura Rodell

A full year in the making, the John Ashcroft speaking engagement, sponsored by Hofstra College Republicans, finally came to fruition on Tuesday night.

College Republican Chairwoman Kathleen Hunker, and vice-chairwoman Lisa Giunta spearheaded the event’s organization. Hunker conceived the idea in 2005, after noticing how eager students are to get involved and engaged when a guest lecturer is well-known.

Plans for the event began last spring, after Hunker took office as president of College Republicans. That semester, the Student Government Association Appropriations Committee furnished the club with $15,000, which provided a substantial enough budget to begin making a down payment.

Ashcroft’s name came up as Hunker perused a list of speakers on the Web site of the Young America’s Foundation, a conservative group that helps college and university campuses draw prominent speakers.

“I ended up seeing his name and I thought, ‘here’s someone who would attract the interest, if not ire, of the entire campus,” she said, noting how Ashcroft’s term influenced a broad cross-section of professions.

A subsequent investigation into whether the University’s various administrative departments would be interested in hosting a high-profile, conservative speaker met with a positive response.

“They hadn’t done it in quite a long time, and they especially were looking forward to this being a student-run event because they like to see students taking initiative and organizing events on campus,” Hunker said.

Following talks with President Stuart Rabinowitz, Provost Herman Berliner, the Dean of Students office and SGA, Ashcroft’s $20,000 endowment was raised by mid-October. Another $5,000 was contributed by the Young America’s Foundation and by late October, a date was set.

While Ashcroft’s book signing was filmed for “News and Views”, his speech was not broadcast in accordance with his preference that his words not be videotaped or audio-recorded in order to prevent his quotes from being taken out of context.

At the top of this year, additional departmental contributions totaling $4,000 was raised and put toward a pre-speech reception. All other costs, such as reserving the playhouse and compensating the ushers, were absorbed by College Republicans.

Since Ashcroft’s entitlement to the Secret Service ended about a year ago, Public Safety, whose experience in covering large events includes last year’s Clinton Presidential Conference, provided security detail.