Comments on: Ticket-holders Turned Away Minutes Before Event Started

By: Trying to make a $ out of 15 cents

Trying to make a $ out of 15 cents — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 14:59:07 +0000

Charlie, Great coverage of the event. People waited in line on Wednesday for tickets and THURSDAY for the event and not Friday. Do you know who was in charge of the lay-out? By pulling out only the visiting bleachers they made more room on the floor but less over-all room in the building (More blue ticket seats but less total seats). It’s unfortunate that some people didn’t make it into the building and poor planning on somebody’s part but faculty need to be a little less entitled. I had seats way up in the bleachers and some faculty members in a section at the other end of the bleachers saw seats opening up on the floor and went down and took them despite the objections of student volunteers who were in charge of working the event. They basically declared their superiority and told the young lady what she could do with herself. I’m not a hero worshipper so it would have been nice to be on stage but it would be far from a highlight of my life. It seemed to me like deans and faculty senators got those prime locations which is as fair an arrangement as I can imagine. I’m pretty sure blue seats went to chairs etc. Maybe time at UT would have been more fair but who knows. It’s events like this that reveal where you are in the pecking order and where people feel like they are. Fascinating stuff really.

By: Sue2

Sue2 — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:40:20 +0000

Though I agree with the first Sue that has posted, I don’t think it is fair to come down on the people who were invited to sit on stage. I also think it is only fair to have a mix of people, those who LOVE Obama, and those who don’t. Not being an Obama fan is certainly not the “popular” view right now and there are those of us who appreciated seeing both sides on stage. Maybe those people who were asked to be there, even if they didn’t like him were chosen because of their work with the University, interest in and knowledge of politics. Is it their fault that the person who had the tickets asked them to be onstage? NO! I find it funny that you feel that the only people looking for their “15 minutes” were the ones who don’t agree with his policies.

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 14:38:53 +0000

A few were turned away???? Try several hundred. After the bogus “Congratulations, your name was picked to receive a ticket” faculty and staff, under the impression that their ticket guaranteed admission, were turned away after standing in line for several hours. Of course if these people had not been doing their jobs in the morning and had instead gotten in line first thing, the outcome would have been different. Better still, if many of them had the “connections” to the UT parties in charge of distribution, they would have found themselves on stage or at least in the first rows. Instead the world got to see several people who absolutely hate Obama, yet managed to get their fifteen minutes of fame because of “who” they knew.