Reporters not welcome at Giuliani speech

Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani will be on campus at 8 p.m. Monday to address the SMU community in Moody Coliseum as part of the Willis M. Tate Lecture Series.

The media will not be joining him.

As part of the contract signed between Tate representatives and the former mayor, no reporters or photographers will be issued credentials to cover the event.

“SMU has always been open to the news media,” SMU Director of News and Information Bob Wright said. “I’m a little surprised at this, but it’s something we’ll deal with.”

Wright added that previous Tate lectures have experienced limited media coverage because lecturers sometimes repeat their presentation.

“We’ve had other events where we allow the media in for only the first 15 minutes,” Wright said. “The contract on this particular event is no media whatsoever.”

Although the stipulation is unusual for an SMU event, it is not something new for Giuliani, who has made few public appearances since leaving office in January.

Wright said Giuliani has limited media coverage in the past so the request should not be seen as unusual by the Dallas media.

“We’ve had several calls over the last few weeks from several media outlets wanting to know what the rules were going to be,” Wright said. “It wasn’t until Tuesday that we received official word that no media was to be invited to the event.”

The event itself is nearly sold out according to the Tate office. The American Airlines Lecture was moved from McFarlin Auditorium to Moody Coliseum shortly after the special lecture was added to the Tate Lecture Series last fall.

The change will allow a much larger audience to attend. McFarlin Auditorium seats 2,400, while Moody Coliseum can accommodate nearly 9,000 spectators.

“We’re thrilled that we were able to move it from McFarlin, where it’s so confined, to a bigger venue like Moody,” said Erin Sutton, a Tate Lecture Series production assistant.

Giuliani’s appearance is his first public showing in Dallas since the Sept. 11 attacks that claimed more than 3,000 lives. Since then, Giuliani has been honored as Time’s Man of the Year and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.

“It certainly brings a level of notoriety to the series,” Sutton said. “We’re one of his first public speaking events [since leaving office].”

Sutton said the event still has $20 and $40 tickets available. In addition, students will be able to get a ticket to the lecture by coming to the Mane Desk at 10 a.m. Monday morning.

“We were always planning on giving tickets to students. We just weren’t sure how we were going to get it to them,” Sutton said.

About 1,000 to 1,200 tickets will be available to students who show their SMU identification card. Sutton said that students would only be allowed one ticket per person.

Giuliani will also speak to a group of students selected to participate in the Hart Global Leaders Speakers Series at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning in McFarlin Auditorium.