Alex LaPierre, Campus Carrier Staff Reporter
James Carville and Mary Matalin, husband and wife and political commentators, will speak at Berry on March 20 at 8 p.m. in the Cage Arena.
Their lecture, “All’s Fair: Love, War and Politics,” has garnered a large response from the community.
By the afternoon of March 19, 940 members of the community had requested tickets, director of news and editorial services, Chris Kozelle said. Two hundred ninety students and faculty had reserved their space at the lecture, according to the the Campus Information Desk in the Krannert Center.
Ticket distribution began March 10, according to the Berry College Office of Public Relations.
Carville, who is liberal, and Matalin, who is conservative, were selected by a group of administrators, faculty and students called the Shatto Lectureship Committee. This committee serves to honor Gloria Shatto, a former president of Berry and Georgia’s first female college president, committee member and Provost Kathy Richardson said.
When the committee is searching for individuals to bring to campus, high priority is put on individuals of national and international renown, with a concentration on highlighting “the types of persons we hope our students will be like,” Richardson said.
Richardson said Matalin and Carville have both made significant accomplishments while also maintaining a family.
Richardson hopes that Carville and Matalin will demonstrate that one “can negotiate difference effectively.”
This year, the committee was comprised of individuals who are both involved in making decisions about the Conson Wilson lecture and the Shatto lecture, Richardson said. SGA president, junior Ben Riggs also served on the committee.
Healthy discourse and compromising conversation between those of different political ideologies are what Riggs hopes Carville and Matalin will bring to Berry’s campus.
As a government major at Berry, Riggs was familiar with the couple before they were selected as guest lecturers.
Other proposed candidates voted on by the committee included Michelle Obama and Stephen Colbert, Riggs said. Riggs said the committee voted on the guest lecturers via email correspondence this past summer.
Sophomore Matthew Murphy, a government major who was invited to attend dinner with the guests, said he hopes Carville and Matalin “will show students that politics is not just an evil entity.”
Murphy said he also hopes the lecturers “will revitalize the notion that politicians are people.”
Richardson said at least 20 to 25 minutes of the lecture time would be devoted to questions from the audience.