This election cycle Allegheny College is embarking on a campaign of its own.

As part of an effort it has dubbed the “Soapbox Alliance,” the liberal-arts institution is calling on other colleges across the country to adopt policies that govern campus visits by political candidates. It wants them to require that the events be open to students, faculty members, and others on campus, rather than only to crowds pulled together by the organizers.

Allegheny adopted an open-events policy after a 2004 campus visit by Vice President Dick Cheney that was open only to Republican activists handpicked by the campaign.

“We want candidates to come to campus,” says Daniel M. Shea, a professor of political science at Allegheny and director of its Center for Political Participation “But we have the obligation to make sure these are genuine discussions, not closed, symbolic events.”

Allegheny officials are sending letters this week to college presidents across the country to encourage them to consider similar measures. They also are asking all the presidential candidates to pledge that they will not hold closed events at colleges.