The process of choosing a list of seven to nine speakers for next year's Distinguished Lecture Series lasted over three hours Tuesday at Memorial Union.
Around 11 p.m. a list of possible speakers was finally determined. Included in the list are Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Sandra Day O'Connor, Amartya Sen, Michael Pollan, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tim Gunn, Steven Pinker, Ishmael Beath and Andrew Sullivan.
Aaron McKean, director of DLS, said this is a tentative list because as with most events, scheduling problems can likely occur. A list of alternate speakers includes, among others, Bill Nye and David Brooks.
With an original list of over 40 speakers to choose from, the meeting was prolonged due to a lack of consensus among voters.
The list of speakers was divided into several different categories, some of which included women's issues, pop culture and science. Of these three categories, some of the more recognizable candidates were O'Connor, Gunn and Nye.
Although speakers such as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton pulled in the most votes, cost plays a huge factor in the decision-making process and thus they were eliminated.
There was a strong push for women speakers, so when one committee member questioned why Arianna Huffington, a nationally syndicated columnist with a very popular blog, was not on the list of possible speakers, committee member Farha Tahir defended the decision to strike her from the list.
A lot of the speakers are under several different categories, and it became a question of what different speakers were going to talk about and whether there was someone who could do a similar if not better job,"" Tahir said.
DLS is organized by the Wisconsin Union Directorate, and brings prominent speakers to campus each semester free of charge to students. Every event asks attendees to fill out ballots of speakers they would like to see. Final speakers are chosen from this list.
