The Distinguished Lecture Series will kick off its 25th season tonight with the Spitfire Tour, a nationally renowned group of artists and activists offering commentary on social and political issues.
Speakers for tonight’s lecture include former Nirvana bassist and Joint Artists and Music Promotions Political Action Committee founder Krist Novoselic, who will speak out against censorship; former Dead Kennedys singer Jello Biafra, who said he will speak out against the war on terrorism; People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals president Ingrid Newkirk, who will speak about animal rights issues; and singer/songwriter Jill Sobule, who will provide social commentary and give an acoustic performance.
The event is free, and takes place at 7 p.m. in the Union Theater in Memorial Union.
In its 25th season, the Distinguished Lecture Series strives each year to bring a diverse group of activists and speakers to the UW-Madison campus. In the past the series has brought people such as esteemed author Kurt Vonnegut, presidential candidate Ralph Nader and Reuben “Hurricane” Carter.
This year’s scheduled speakers include film director Spike Lee, Holocaust survivor and author Elie Wiesel, feminist art advocates the Guerilla Girls, slavery reparations advocate Randall Robinson, and controversial author David Horowitz.
Tim Lindl, director of the Distinguished Lecture Series Committee, said the purpose of inviting Horowitz was to offer a dissenting viewpoint from Robinson’s.
“We hope he is going to talk about slavery reparations, but he is kind of hard to control,” Lindl said. “He has caused so many problems on this campus in the last year that we figured we’d have him come. This way, people can listen to him in a more personal setting and figure out if the guy is worth listening to or not.”
Last year Horowitz sparked conversation and protest when he published an advertisement against reparations for slavery in college newspapers across the country.
The Distinguished Lecture Series Committee is funded through student segregated fees. This year, the committee received $98,500 from the Student Services Finance Committee.
Lindl said this was not nearly enough to cover the costs of all the speakers.
“Our actual costs were much higher,” Lindl said. “We had to raise $28,500 ourselves.”
The extra money was needed because speakers’ fees continue to grow annually, Lindl said. The fee for Robinson recently doubled, and Horowitz’s fee has increased by 50 percent.
“Someday, I would like to see a series of people of Spike Lee’s caliber, but that would require a budget of twice what we have,” Lindl said “We offered Jimmy Carter $60,000 to come speak, but he refused. Bill Clinton gets $250,000 a lecture, and we can’t afford that.”
Lindl said his committee would like to see more campus groups helping to co-sponsor speakers, a task that has proven difficult with certain speakers.
“We contacted the College Republicans about cosponsoring Horowitz, but they told us they didn’t want anything to do with him,” Lindl said.
Each year speakers are selected by the committee, which is made up of anyone interested in joining, Lindl said.
This year, approximately 375 different speakers were suggested. Fifty of these were then selected by the committee based on sexual, ethnic and political diversity, as well as availability. The committee debates the importance of each speaker and finally attempts to contact each of the top 10 speakers on the list.
“Our goal is to bring in speakers who will challenge established beliefs in this community,” Lindl said. “‘Sifting and winnowing’ will be more effective if we can get the opposite of what Madison’s viewpoints tend to be.”
