It was great that a school ranked as the number two most apathetic college in the United States had such greatness in its presence on Sept. 26. However, I believe that the accessibility of President Jimmy Carter’s lecture was very poor and the selection process was unfair. Not all students were allowed to attend the lecture last Wednesday, and from my experience, people who had no desire to go were the ones who ended up with tickets. Luckily enough, one of my suitemates was categorized as such and I was able to go and watch former President Carter’s lecture.

I really put into question the location in which this lecture was held. The recreation center in the school’s gymnasium would definitely not have been my first choice as a location for a Nobel Peace Prize winner to speak.

Last year we opened a beautiful, state-of-the-art athletic center right off of Whitney Avenue. This would have been a prime location to host such an event. Not only would more students and faculty members have been able to attend the lecture, but the school would have had the opportunity to show off and give more publicity to its brand new structure. While there may have been security reasons as to why that could not be the location for the lecture, I feel as though it would have been the better choice. For example, the circulation of air is much better in the TD Banknorth Sports Center compared to the tropical-like temperatures that the recreation center had to offer.

I also did not believe it was fair to provide tickets to uninterested students in the QU 101 and 201 courses. To generalize, most of those students had no idea who President Carter was.

A girl in my math class had the audacity to ask me, “Do you know when Ronald Reagan is coming?” To be completely honest, that was what upset me the most about the whole situation – the fact that this girl who thought she was going to see a dead president speak had clearance to go watch, and I, the interested party, did not.

Ticket distribution should have been set up just like the sporting events are-first come first serve. I sat there in the sweltering heat taking notes on what this great man had to say, while students from a QU 101 course sat in front of me and acted as if it was a social hour. Considering my friend and I had to beg to get tickets, and these disinterested parties were just handed them, is completely wrong.