Pulitzer Prize winning author Tracy Kidder is expected to speak at the EMU Ballroom early winter term after the ASUO Senate approved $6,500 toward a speaking fee and advertisement for the event.
Requested by the Clark Honors College Student Association, the amount was debated because funds were said to include advertisements in newspapers such as the Emerald, Eugene Weekly and the Register-Guard.
Sen. Demic Tipitino raised concern over the incidental fee funding advertisement. “I think that it’s inappropriate for student fees to send ads to the Register-Guard,” he said in the
meeting, concerned that the money would not directly benefit students. “I don’t think my parents coming to the event would support the cultural and physical development of students.” Tipitino referenced an event last spring in which Greg Mortenson spoke to a mostly nonstudent audience. His concerns were that he did not want student fees to pay for an event not attended by students.  Tipitino ended up voting in favor of the $6,500 request.
Kidder’s book, “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” is required reading for freshmen in the honors college, making the speaker especially important to those students. “Mountains Beyond Mountains” deals with issues including global health and tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, who made house calls in the mountains of Haiti.
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