Vanderbilt’s Senior Class Day lecture on Thursday, May 8, has been moved to Memorial Gym because of the threat of severe weather. Musician and social activist Bob Geldof will now speak at 10 a.m. in the gym. Senior Class Day 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 VanderbiltUniversity 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 a.m. to 10 a.m., media can pick up credentials at the media registration table located on the southeast side of Memorial Gym on 25th Avenue South near the baseball field and across from the StudentLifeCenter. Valid media identification/press passes must be presented.
Broadcast/Photography Media: Risers for broadcast media and print photographers will be located stage left about 85 feet from the podium. A pool feed of the multi-camera webcast production will be available through an audio/video mult box at the riser location near Section H in Memorial Gym. Cable runs are more than 300 feet to the riser location.
Parking Television Trucks:Parking for television trucks going live during the event will be in Lot 71 on the southeast side of Memorial Gym on 25th Avenue South behind the baseball field. Parking for other television trucks will be in Lot 64, a surface street parking lot on the southeast side of Memorial Gym above Lot 71.
Parking Print/Radio Media: Parking for print and radio media will be in the Kensington Garage next to Memorial Gym on 25th Avenue South.
Print Media: A press filing room will be available with high-speed Internet connections in Memorial Gym’s Suite C 5. There is also seating for reporters at tables located by the gym floor in front of Section J. Some internet connections are available at that location. Wireless connections work in both locations.
Contact: Princine Lewis, (615) 322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu