Musician and social activist Bob Geldof will speak at Vanderbilt’s Senior Class Day on Thursday, May 8, at 10 a.m. on Alumni Lawn. Senior Class Day, which starts with a ceremonial walk through the gates of the university at 9:30 a.m., is held the day before the university’s commencement exercises. Geldof’s speech will be webcast live. A link to the webcast will be on the Vanderbilt University home page at www.vanderbilt.edu.
Geldof, who raised more than $120 million for famine relief in Africa with the Band Aid, Live Aid and Sport Aid events in the 1980s, is a winner of the Irish Peace Prize and has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and lead singer of the rock band The Boomtown Rats and has since gone on to a solo recording career while continuing his activism by lobbying wealthy countries to cancel debt owed by African nations. The Live 8 concerts in 2005 were held to further this aim and raise consciousness about Third World poverty.
Credentials: Media interested in attending should contact Princine Lewis at (615) 322-2706 by May 7. On Thursday, May 8, from 8 to 10 a.m., media can pick up credentials at the media registration table located at the corner of Vanderbilt Place and West Side Row near the front of the Sarratt Student Center. Valid media identification/press passes must be presented.
Broadcast/Photography Media: Risers for broadcast media and print photographers will be located stage right about 80 to 100 feet from the podium. A pool feed of the multi-camera webcast production will be available through an audio/video mult box located at the riser. Cable runs are more than 300 feet to the riser location.
Parking Television Trucks: Parking for television trucks is in Lot 1A at Vanderbilt Place and West Side Row between Tri Delta sorority house and the Euclid building. At 24th Avenue South, turn left onto Vanderbilt Place and it will dead end into the Sarratt Student Center. Then turn left onto West Side Row.
Print/Radio Media: A press filing room will be available with limited phone lines and high-speed Internet connections in the Sarratt Student Center, Room 116, next to Alumni Lawn. Reporters can watch the event on a TV monitor in the press room, or there is reserved seating for reporters next to the broadcast riser location on Alumni Lawn. An audio-only mult box will be provided at that location in addition to the one at the riser location.
Parking Print/Radio Media: Parking for print and radio media will be in the Kensington Garage next to Memorial Gym on 25th Avenue South, rain or shine. You must show a valid media identification/press credential to park in that garage.
In case of severe weather, the event will be held in Memorial Gym.
Media Contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu