Cindy at SUNY

An upstate New York college that hosted Cindy Sheehan paid her $11,000, nearly one third of their budget for lectures this year according to the Daily Star of Oneonta.

Sheehan is the mother of the late Casey Sheehan who was killed in Baghdad in 2004. She has become a visible anti-war activist known most for camping on the roadside near President Bush’s home in Crawford, Texas in order to get him to meet with her.

The State University of Oneonta also booked Lt. Col. Scott Rutter as a speaker. A retired army officer, Fox News Channel military analyst and ardent supporter of the war, Rutter was only paid $600 to speak, Erin Dromgoole told the Daily Star. Dromgoole, the lecture chairperson of the College Union Activities Council (CUAC), booked both speakers.

Bill Harcleroad, Student Activity Director, told the Daily Star that the $37,500 total budget for speakers is funded by the $80.50 student activity fee charged per semester. “(Rutter’s) getting paid whatever he asked for; (Sheehan’s) getting paid whatever she asked for,” Harcleroad said.

A Bronze and Silver Star recipient, Rutter was a battalion task force commander during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He retired from the Army in 2003, but went back to Iraq as an embedded reporter in 2004, according to the Daily Star.

The CUAC booked Rutter only after a complaint was heard that the group would “appear to be taking a side on the war issue if it only invited Sheehan to participate,” according to The Daily Star. Sheehan’s lecture drew in about 550 people, but not many students in the 800-person capacity Hunt Union Ballroom the Daily Star reported. “There’s no students here, and that’s just sad,” said 22-year-old Korey Rowe to the Daily Star.

Delivering a presentation called, “Winning the War in Iraq, From the Front” Lt. Col. Rutter spoke at noon on December 2 to about 50 people in the 75-person capacity Hunt Union Square according to the Daily Star.

Rutter told the group about his experiences during the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and explained that he was motivated to help the country by deposing Saddam and helping rebuild Iraq, according to the Daily Star.

Dromgoole told the Daily Star the purpose of the event was to “encourage students to be more aware of current events.”

Julia A. Seymour is a staff writer at Accuracy in Academia.