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When the going gets tough, the myths get busted

MythBusters event a new approach for Student Government guest lecture series

Posted on March 27, 2008, at 12:00 a.m.

Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage from the Discovery Channel’s “MythBusters” are coming to speak on Sunday, March 30 at 1 p.m. Sunday night 2,300 ticket holders will fill the University of Maine Field House for a sold- out lecture.

Originally, the show was going to be in Hauck Auditorium, which would have held 500 students, and the tickets were going to be free at the door. This plan allowed students the option to buy tickets ahead of time for $5, and the show sold out in three hours.

Because of the sellout, Student Entertainment (SE) moved the show to the Field House. This allowed an additional 1,800 seats for both students and the public at $5 each.

“Students have really sent a message; we needed to reevaluate our service,” Derek Mitchell, vice president of SE, said.

Usually, the Guest Lecture Series (GLS) has a yearly budget of $35,000, but MythBusters cost $40,000. GLS was able to bring in the TV stars because of the cancellation of the My Chemical Romance concert. The extra funds allowed SE to transfer approximately $10,500 to the GLS budget, which allowed the series to bring the MythBusters.

The MythBuster show is the largest GLS lecture yet. The senate changed the GLS requirements for this year, which allowed the series to decrease the number of lectures from three to one per semester. This allows for more expensive lecturers that would not have been possible otherwise.

“Dean Loredo is getting antsy; he wants his tickets,” said Abtin Mehdizadegan, director of the GLS. Attendees are not the only people benefiting from the lecture. Five VIP tickets with meet and greet passes were sold for $100 each, with proceeds going to The Make a Wish Foundation. Those passes sold within 24 hours.

Mike and Mike, from radio station Kiss 94.5, helped give away 100 tickets to promote the event and the duo will also moderate the lecture.

Some members of Greek life, and football players who offered to volunteer at the event received free front and second-row tickets.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008, 12:00 am. You can follow any responses to this article through the RSS feed.