- Kennedy
Center changed board rules this year. - Rules
enabled Trump’s name addition to center. - Trump
installed MAGA-friendly board members in February.
In May, the center’s bylaws were changed to prohibit
Congress-designated ex officio members from casting ballots or contributing to
a quorum.
When the Republican president took over the center in
February, he removed non-appointed board members and added a number of new
members, such as Second Lady Usha Vance and White House Chief of Staff Susie
Wiles. He has declared that his goal is to eliminate “woke”
programming.
The center’s new name, “The Donald J. Trump and The
John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts,” was approved by
the board on December 18. The building’s signage was promptly changed to
reflect the modification.
Changing the name of a memorial to former President John F.
Kennedy is illegal, according to several legal experts and Democrats in
Congress who have condemned the action. Additionally, some have argued that
voting on the name change should have been open to ex officio members.
However, ex officio members have never cast ballots in the
past, Roma Daravi, vice president of public relations at the Kennedy Center,
told the Post.
“The bylaws were revised to reflect this longstanding
precedent and everyone received the technical changes both before the meeting
and after revisions,”
Daravi told
the outlet.
“Some members (including ex officio) attended in person, others
by phone, and no concerns were voiced, no one objected, and the bylaws passed
unanimously.”
23 ex officio members and 34 president-appointed board
members are listed on the center’s website.
Ex officio members include the mayor of Washington, D.C. and
the librarian of Congress, according to the bill that created the center in
1964. They are designated by law as members of the board of trustees, which
oversees the facility.
Ex officio members were “always included in debate and
discussion,” according to a former center employee, but they couldn’t
recall a time when these members cast ballots.
“Theoretically they could vote, but our practice was not
to have them vote or count toward quorum,”
the person noted.
The Post was informed by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, a
Democrat from Rhode Island, that he became an ex officio member earlier this
year after rising to the position of ranking member on the Senate Committee on
Environment and Public Works.
The law that created the center, according to Whitehouse,
“makes no distinction between ex officio and presidentially appointed
Trustees when it comes to members’ rights and responsibilities on the board,
including voting.”
Additionally, he charged that the new board had
“illegally” changed the bylaws in order to “silence
dissent.”
Requests for comments were not answered by a number of
government personnel, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Health
Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Democrats in Congress have taken action to overturn the
decision in the days following the name change.
Democrat Representative Joyce Beatty of Ohio filed a
complaint in Washington, D.C., requesting that the judge nullify the vote
because she believed it went beyond the board’s legislative jurisdiction.
Beatty claimed that when she attempted to speak during the voting on December
18, she was muffled.
A bill that would remove Trump’s name off the center was
submitted last week by Democratic Representative Chellie Pingree of Maine. More
than seventy more lawmakers backed the legislation.
In addition, a number of performers who were scheduled to
play at the venue have canceled in recent days due to the addition of Trump’s
name. These include the Doug Varone and Dancers ensemble and the jazz
supergroup The Cookers.
“All of these shows were booked by the previous regime,”
Richard
Grenell, an officer of the board tapped by Trump, wrote on X.
“Their
cancellations only prove our point that the place was booked with radical
lefties putting woke politics above the Arts.”
“Democrats ignored the Kennedy Center for decades and it
was crumbling,”
he added.
“Donald Trump saved the Center and has poured
millions into the Arts, why don’t you join him?”
What does the Kennedy Center charter say about renaming?
The Kennedy Center’s launching duty, established by the 1964
Kennedy Center Act( Public Law 88- 260), designates the institution as a”
public artistic center” to serve as a” living honorary to the late
President John F. Kennedy,” with unequivocal references proscribing
unilateral renaming without congressional blessing.
Section 2 declares it” the John F. Kennedy Center for
the Performing trades,” framing the name as integral to its honorary
purpose; legal analyses note Congress must amend the law for changes, as boards
warrant authority to alter federally commanded designations for public
monuments.
The board’s May 2025 reg variations and December renaming
to” Trump- Kennedy Center” face challenges, as Popular lawgivers and
Kennedy family cite the duty’s intent; experts argue this requires legislative
action, potentially via action, to apply.
