Excitement builds for Pervez Musharraf Lecture at Trinity University

With its successful accomplishment of the massive 200 million dollar capital campaign, Trinity University is on a roll. Amid all popularity, raised eyebrows and focus it has received from its peers and competitors, it has created more buzz again by inviting Pervez Musharraf, the former President of Pakistan. He is ubiquitously described as the person who once held 'the most dangerous job in the world'- a title given by the TIME Magazine. Musharraf will certainly take away a chunk of Trinity's endowment but will give Trinity students more exposure and probably an unparalled experience and a unique perspective to look at issues in South East Asia.

The [speaking] fee for Musharraf would be in the 150,000-200,000 range for a day," says Embark President David B. Wheeler

Musharraf will  be lecturing at Trinity University on Sept 17, 2009, Thursday in Laurie Auditorium at 7:30 pm "as part of Distinguished Lecture Series, made possible by generous endowments from from Mr. and Mrs. Walter F. Brown of San Antonio. The Flora Cameron Lecture on Politics and Public Affairs is made possible by an endowment gift by Mrs. Flora C. Crichton of San Antonio" as reported in the Press Release by Trinity University. The former Pakistani president will be lecturing on "The World As I See It" at Trinity University. He has also lectured at Stanford University in the recent past (in January 2009) as part of the 'Big Speaker 2009' on the topic, "Terrorism and Extremism- The Need for a Holistic Approach."

Two tickets per Trinity Student ID can be accessed from September 8 to 11 at Laurie Auditorium's Box Office located on the third floor whose hours of operation begin from 10 am. Out of excitement, if you show up at 8 am (just like I did today), you might be disappointed and later angry for letting your sleep forgo. (The Official email sent out by Trinity University did not mention the hours of operation of the Box Office. And also, the Box Office is located in a very inconvenient location, finding it is much of a treasure hunt.) It is a matter to rejoice to students that Trinity students are getting first preference for these tickets to see his lecture. The tickets are absolutely free and assuming his fees are closer to $100,000(which is still lesser than predicted by David Wheeler), every ticket is still worth $40. I know you have started doing the Maths now, the official number of maximum occupants in Laurie is 2500 for this lecture (Yes, I asked them today). According to Indian Express, 

"Musharraf intends to raise funds for his future political activities from the lucrative lectures." 

Also, he is eagerly waiting to step into politics. Under current law, he has to wait for at least 2 years beginning his end of presidency before he can enter into politics.
 

There is no reason why Trinity students would not want to see it. Moreover, you could always make some extra cash if you are running low on cash by selling them later. Remember how few students made extra bucks by selling their tickets during the lecture by former US President Bill Clinton. The tickets were reserved (sold out) within few hours after it were distributed. Majority of Trinity students complained that they didn't even know.  It was primarily because former President Clinton had forbidden publicity in any form. But this time, Musharraf gave green signal to disseminating news to media or publicizing to students. 

Also, his lecture will be broadcast live on Trinity's website which should give a chance to others too to see his lecture.