People will come. People will most definitely come. As they build the stage, he will come.

University Union is bringing James Earl Jones to speak at 8 p.m. Nov. 13 at Goldstein Auditorium. Tickets will cost $3 for students and $5 for general admission.

‘We were looking for a big-name speaker with wide appeal,’ said Chad Bender, a junior entrepreneurship and television, radio and film major. ‘Sometimes students don’t feel like we bring in enough big-name people, but we think that we have a big bang here.’

Elliot Roberts, a junior in the Martin J. Whitman School of Management, said Jones is more than just a big name.

‘Our goal is to have diverse speakers and prominent actors,’ Roberts said. ‘James Earl Jones is a good speaker to have.’

Jones is best known for his roles playing the voice of Darth Vader in ‘Star Wars’ and Terrence Mann in ‘Field of Dreams.’

Earlier this year, there was some confusion as to whether Jones was coming at all.

‘It was just a joke in the office,’ Roberts said. ‘The web guy put it up for a minute and was going to take it down, but there was a blackout in the office and he couldn’t change it. It was all a big misunderstanding.’

University Union is confident people will come see the show, and plans to promote it a great deal in the weeks to come.

‘We will be showing ‘Field of Dreams’ the week before,’ Roberts said.

‘We expect to sell out Goldstein Auditorium and we are putting on a big campaign for this event,’ Bender said.

Though the the show was only recently publicized, students are very excited to see a speaker of this caliber.

‘He’s a major celebrity,’ said Geoffrey Wowk, a junior graphic arts and psychology major who plans to see the show.

Roberts said it was not a difficult process to bring Jones here. Roberts spoke to Jones’s agent and made the arrangements at the cost of $32,200.

Jones will be speaking on the subject ‘Culture Quest: How culture affects us and how we affect culture.’ Following his speech, there will be a question-and-answer session from the audience.

This will be the third big event the University Union puts on, following Nappy Roots’ concert and Jim Breuer’s comedy show, Roberts said.

‘With the funds that we have been given, I think we have done an excellent job,’ Bender said. ‘This is just a start; we are hoping to bring in more big names next semester, too.’

Published on October 16, 2003 at 12:00 pm