After President Donald Trump announced last Monday night that he will deliver the commencement address at The University of Alabama and West Point, details were scarce.
The University answered many questions about the address the next day in an email to students. It said Trump would speak at an optional, ticketed event for graduating students at Coleman Coliseum on May 1.
“The University of Alabama is honored to have been selected as one of the universities President Donald J. Trump will visit to deliver a spring commencement address,” the email said, though how the University was selected remained unclear.
John Wahl, chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, said the Trump administration first reached out to the University on “fairly short notice” before the Truth Social post about giving a commencement address. The UA System’s Office of External Affairs then began coordinating with the administration to work out the details.
Wahl said he had communicated with the Office of External Affairs and the Trump administration about the visit but was not involved in the planning and was unsure exactly how long it had been in the works.
“Donald Trump has always been committed to engaging with everyday working Americans, and his administration was looking for places to take part in commencement ceremonies across the country,” he said.
He added that the visit continues a trend of Trump focusing more on Alabama through attending events for the state party and attending UA football games. Trump most recently attended the Alabama-Georgia game in September.
“We’re very pleased to have a sitting U.S. president who highlights our state and as well as The University of Alabama and makes speaking to our young people a priority,” Wahl said.
Lynn Cole, vice chancellor for communications for the UA System, said the University was “selected” to give a commencement address but that the UA System had “no further comment at this time” on how the commencement address was planned.
“The University of Alabama System is a public institution with a commitment to free speech and institutional neutrality,” she said. “As such, our universities host a wide variety of events and speakers on their respective campuses, but that does not equate to an endorsement of any speech or viewpoint that may be shared.”
The University did not respond to requests for comment about its involvement in planning the commencement address.
Though many were excited about the possibility of a commencement address, the president made the decision on his own without anyone specifically pushing for him to come, Wahl said.
Luke Mintz, vice chairman of the UA College Republicans, said in an email that the organization did not reach out to Trump about giving a commencement address and that he “chose to come of his own volition.”
“We are honored to have him back at the University of Alabama,” Mintz said. “It is a sign of President Trump’s respect for our university that he would choose to give a commencement speech here. Most commencements given by POTUS have been to military academies and private institutions, so whether they agree with President Trump’s policies or not, students should recognize how impressive this is.”
The University’s decision to host the president has also drawn backlash from some students and alumni, who claim the president is antithetical to the Capstone’s values. In a statement posted to Instagram, the UA College Democrats said that University President Stuart Bell “might have been caught between a rock and a hard place” when Trump asked to deliver an address, citing the recent federal funding cuts at other universities.
The Trump administration has moved to cancel federal funding for several major universities, such as Harvard University, Cornell University and Columbia University. Harvard refused to accept the administration’s sweeping demands to change rules around protesting, admissions and other university functions, prompting cancellation of over $2.2 billion in federal funding.
According to financial reports, Harvard’s endowment at the end of fiscal year 2024 was worth $53.2 billion compared to The University of Alabama’s nearly $1.4 billion.
Braden Vick, president of UACD, said he believes the University should have refused to host Trump.
“He’s not interested in helping us,” he said. “So why should we be rolling out this red carpet for him?”
Wahl said suggestions that the University hosted Trump out of fear of losing federal funding were “absolute rubbish.”
“I don’t think there’s a university in the entire country who would refuse the sitting president of the United States of America,” he said. “This is an amazing opportunity, a once in a lifetime opportunity, for students.”
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