Nicole Higgins DeSmet

Students arrived early Friday at the Ira Allen Chapel to hear Sen. Bernie Sanders and other top Democrats speak — but Vermont's junior senator never came in from the cold.

Sanders was billed to introduce keynote speaker and Democratic National Committee Deputy Chairman Keith Ellison to the audience at the University of Vermont following their appearance at a Thursday fundraiser for the state's Democratic Party.

Multiple news releases, including one from U.S. Rep. Peter Welch's office and the University of Vermont College Democrats listed Sanders as attending. The college Democrats included him in the lineup of speakers as taking the podium from 11:24 a.m. to 11:54 a.m., immediately following Welch.

Ellison took the stage without the promised introduction and UVM College Democrats wrote on Twitter, "the senator's schedule never quite worked out."

Ellison focused on wealth and inequality, comparing the current economic difference between U.S. citizens at the top and those at the bottom to that of the robber barons of the 1890s.

"Even if you play golf, they don’t play with you," Ellison said explaining that the proposed tax cut would bolster a "hereditary aristocracy" in the U.S. even as talk of meritocracy was the byword of Washington elites.

Samuel Donnelly, the sophomore who organized the event, appeared nervous as Ellison stumped on stage. Donnelly worried about explaining Sanders absence, but he never had to address the issue as Ellison switched to a Q & A, taking questions until almost 1 p.m., 30 minutes beyond his time slot.

Donnelly wrote via email that the promotion using Sanders name was in no way a move to get more students to attend.

"To make this clear again, we thought we would have Senator Sanders there and I didn’t get it done," Donnelly wrote.

Sanders' office chalked up his absence as a "miscommunication" but said he had made it clear he would not attend.

"As he has done many times in the past, Bernie looks forward to speaking with UVM students at a future opportunity," a spokesman for the senator wrote in an email on Friday after the event.

Donnelly, 21, of Burlington said early Friday morning that he had future hopes of political office, though political strategy was his current interest. As the president of the UVM College Democrats, Donnelly said he heard from the state's Democratic Party Chairman Faisal Gill about the fundraiser in Burlington with Ellison and Sanders.

"I said, I wish I could get them to come up to UVM. And then Gill called and said they had time the following day if I thought I could arrange it," Donnelly said. He was excited by the prospect of organizing his first political event with 900 spectators and nationally recognized speakers.

Asfar Basha, 18, a freshman, introduced Ellison describing him as a fellow Muslim-American and someone he looked up to for his entire life.

"I grew up in a time when terrorist became a synonym for Islam," Basha said, explaining that he found leaders to emulate in Ellison and Gill, who share his religion and values, calling them his "beams of hope."

Speakers, for the most part, focused the importance of participation and getting engaged before the next election.

Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman quizzed students on their local political knowledge.

"Who has a hobby? You got a few hours to do that, you have 15 minutes to participate in democracy," Zuckerman said.

According to hands raised at the front of the room, students were already politically engaged.

Treasurer for the UVM College Democrats, Carina Figliuzzi, and freshman Sally Short became politically active last year, they said.

Short said before the event began that she attended the Women's March on Washington.

"The more we get women involved the more those issues will be on the table. Keeping Planned Parenthood on the table is important to me. It's empowering to be in control of your own body," Figliuzzi said before the speakers arrived.

Donnelly said those involved in the UVM Democrats were split roughly 50-50 male and female, though getting minority parity was a bit more difficult in Vermont.

Ellison spoke to UVM minority campus issues like inclusion.

Aida Arms, 17, along with about a dozen other South Burlington High School students who attended the event. The group was multicultural, multiracial with seemingly all genders and sexes represented, embodying Ellison's unifying message. They were excited to vote in the next election and they would have come just to hear Ellison speak.

"We were a bit disappointed as he is a local political icon," Arms said of Sanders.

Much of Ellison's talk was at college level, but he paused and explained that meritocracy was the idea that you can get ahead in life purely by ability and talent. And gerrymandering, via a question brought up a the talk, was when electoral district boundaries were altered for political advantage.

"Make sure you go to everybody and tell them if you get involved things will get better," Ellison said.

Contact Nicole Higgins DeSmet at ndesmet@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1845. Follow her on Twitter @NicoleHDeSmet.