Second presidential visit? It was Clinton’s — Ford WAS here in ’88

Having now heard from several longtime UW-Green Bay employees, past and present, we can confirm that this newsletter’s pronouncement last week that Bill Clinton’s campus visit was the first by a former president was in error. Actually, we should have described the Clinton speech as the first PUBLIC appearance by a former president. Several sources contacted us to describe how in 1988, Gerald Ford was on campus for a private meeting with individuals including Susan Engeleiter, Wisconsin’s GOP candidate for Senate. The two also met briefly with reporters. (Former UW-Green Bay media relations director Scott Hildebrand, now an administrative staff member with UW-Madison, recalled that he was a Press-Gazette reporter at the time and was part of that small group of journalists.) As best anyone can recall, the meeting took place in CL 102.