Trump hosts rally at UIC Pavilion

TNS
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on stage during his rally at the University of Central Florida, in Orlando, Fla., on Saturday, March 5, 2016. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

By Daily Illini Staff Report
March 7, 2016

Donald Trump is scheduled to speak at 6 p.m. on March 11 at the UIC Pavilion, four days before the Illinois primary on March 15.EJ

At this point in the primary season, Trump remains the GOP frontrunner. Trump won the primaries in 12 out of 19 states while Texas senator Ted Cruz took six and Florida senator Marco Rubio won one. EJTrump has 382 delegates, while the closest competitor, Cruz, has 300.EJ

DNAinfo reported that the Chicago campus is not advocating Trump by hosting him at the pavilion; Trump is merely renting the pavilion.

“It’s a rental arrangement with the campaign,” UIC spokeswoman Sherri McGinnis Gonzalez told DNAinfo.EJ “This is not us hosting the campaign.”

Several groups have begun protesting the event online, petitioning the UIC Pavilion to cancel the event and starting Facebook events advocating protests at the rally. Nearly 40,000 people have signed a petition on MoveOn.org, asking Chancellor Michael D. Amiridis,EJ Provost Susan Poser EJ and UIC Pavilion Director Kevin Scheibler EJ to cancel the rally, and 7,400 said on Facebook that they were attending the event to protest Trump.

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The petition, started by Andrea Carrillo of the UIC student organization Fearless Undocumented Alliance, lists several reasons that the group feels canceling the event is necessary, including the fact that several Trump rallies have resulted in violence towards protesters. Time magazine reported that although the Trump campaign does not endorse the violence, Trump rallies have increasingly led to violent incidents. Supporters have pulled protesters’ hair, hit them with signs and spit on them.

Trump, however, is excited about the event, telling the Chicago Sun Times he is glad to be visiting his “world famous” Trump Tower Hotel in Chicago.

“I love Chicago. I love Mike Ditka. I love my hotel … the Trump Tower, which is No 1. We are No 1. No. 1. And how about my polls. Amazing, huh?” he said.

The Trump Tower Hotel was actually rated the fifth best hotel in Chicago by U.S. News and World Report.

Tickets for the event are still available on Eventbrite and are free to the public.

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