Today's Common Hour lecture featuring Paul Rusesabagina sold out further in advance than any previous Common Hour event, according to Assistant Director of Events Brenna Hensley.
Rusesabagina is famous for his heroism during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. As a manager at a hotel, he used his influence to shelter over 1,000 Rwandan refugees and orphans. Many students know him as the main character from the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, in which Don Cheadle played Rusesabagina.
The lecture will be held in Pickard Theater, which has a capacity of 602 persons, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Hensley said that the College did anticipate the "big response, given the important topic."
According to Hensley, Common Hour organizers chose Pickard Theater because it has the greatest fixed seating capacity at the College. Although Morrell Gymnasium can seat more students, organizers of the event opted to use the smaller venue.
"[Morrell Gymnasium] is typically not a lecture space," Hensley said. Because of athletic team practices, it is also not always available for use during the day.
Rusesabagina was nominated to speak by Bowdoin students and faculty who submitted ideas for Common Hour last year, according to Henley.
"We plan our schedule approximately one year in advance in order to secure some of the more publicly known speakers," she said. "Mr. Rusesabagina speaks all over the world."
Tickets to the event were made available on Friday, September 9 at the Smith Union Information Desk. Though Common Hour events are usually open to members of the Brunswick community, a Bowdoin ID was needed to receive tickets to today's event. Hensley noted that the first 400 tickets sold out by September 13.
Hilary Imai '09, who has seen Hotel Rwanda, said she will be attending today's Common Hour.
"I would like to know more about the events in Rwanda—I want to know more about the actual man and how he was able to be so tremendously heroic," she said. "I want to hear if the real story was as horrible as it was portrayed in the movie."
Ryan Hart '08 said that he rarely attends Common Hour events, but saw Hotel Rwanda last spring and was very interested in seeing Rusesabagina in person.
"When the Common Hour schedule came out, I marked it on my calendar to get tickets," Hart said. "It was definitely something I didn't want to miss."
Jacqueline Abrams '08 is one student who wanted to see Rusesabagina but did not get a ticket. Abrams says she saw Hotel Rwanda over the summer and was moved.
"I would love to hear what he has to say about what happened and what's happening now in Rwanda from a first-hand point of view," she said.
Abrams plans on lining up for a ticket at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, at which time Common Hour organizers will be distributing returned tickets at Pickard's box office.
Event organizers are excited that today's Common Hour is so popular.
"I think it is an important topic and several classes here at Bowdoin have brought even more awareness to the subject," Hensley said.
"Also, the success of the movie, Hotel Rwanda, has helped bring the subject into the media and into the hearts of the general population," she said.