Filmmaker Spike Lee, one of the highest profile guests scheduled to speak later this month at UW-Madison as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series, canceled his appearance Friday.
Lee, who is teaching once a week and filming a documentary at New York University, usually reserves February, Black History Month, to lecture around the country, according to DLS director and UW-Madison senior Tim Lindl.
\This year, he changed his philosophy that he's actually going to spend that time teaching and doing that documentary instead of going on a speaker's tour,"" Lindl said.
The price of Lee's lecture was set at $24,000, none of which will be lost due to the cancellation. The only loss will be funds that had been put into marketing, Lindl said, which will actually be charged to Lee.
The cancellation is the second for DLS this year. Feminist author Susan Faludi had been scheduled for October but also canceled.
""It's disappointing, of course, but these things happen with speakers all the time,"" Lindl said of Lee's cancellation. ""It's a lot of embarrassment.""
Members of the committee responsible for selecting speakers will meet today to decide whether they would rather hire another speaker for this semester or save the funds for next year and ""make next year's series that much better,"" Lindl said.
The committee will be in contact with agencies that give them lists of speakers available on short notice, he added.
UW-Madison students expressed their disappointment in the cancellation.
""I think that a guy of such national recognition would have been interesting to see,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Angela Lehn. ""I'm disappointed but I understand these people have other commitments.""UW-Madison senior Rachel O'Leary said she was interested in hearing Lee partly because of her interest as an Afro-American studies major.
""I think he is a person who really walks the line between theory and real life,"" she said. ""I think it's a definite loss to our campus.""
Neither Lee nor his agent could be reached for comment as of press time.
Two guests remain to speak at DLS this semester: The Guerrilla Girls Broadband Inc., a group of satirical activists scheduled for March 12, and Holocaust survivor and 1986 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel, scheduled for April 16.
Lectures for the series, which is in its 25th year of existence, are usually held in the Wisconsin Union Theater, Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.
