Northwestern College Republicans will host GOP politician and diplomat Alan Keyes on campus, the club announced Wednesday. Keyes will speak at 7 p.m. on Thursday in Swift Hall, according to the group’s Instagram page.
Keyes served as Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs under the Ronald Reagan administration. In the former role, he helped craft the now-rescinded Mexico City Policy, which barred non-governmental organizations that promoted or performed abortions from receiving U.S. government funding.
“(Keyes has) been a huge advocate for conservative issues for a long time, and I think it’s going to be good to get somebody a little different than the school usually sees to foster that kind of discourse,” said Weinberg senior Tharein Potuhera, acting president of NU College Republicans. “We can also benefit from his years of experience in the political realm and his international diplomatic experience.”
The group initially intended to host Keyes in April but postponed the event due to unforeseeable circumstances, Potuhera said.
Keyes also ran unsuccessfully for a U.S. Senate seat in Maryland in 1988 and 1992, as well as the seat won by former President Barack Obama in Illinois in 2004. He also sought the GOP nomination for president in 1996, 2000 and 2008. In the latter election — which saw Keyes vie for the opportunity to challenge Obama once again — Keyes ran on a platform opposing same-sex marriage and abortion access.
In 2008, Keyes filed a lawsuit challenging Obama’s eligibility to serve as president based on the false conspiracy theory promoted by former President Donald Trump alleging that Obama was not born in the United States.
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Twitter: @jacob_wendler
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