Despite the semi-controlled chaos at Utah Valley State College - student leaders have been flooded with cries to cancel the planned appearance - outspoken filmmaker Michael Moore is indeed coming to the Orem campus next month.
Beneath the chatter Wednesday, UVSC's attorney reviewed the contract, McKay Events Center staff talked tickets and the school president even issued a statement of support - sort of.
"As a former Republican senator, I can assure you that Mr. Moore is certainly not my choice for a speaker," UVSC President William Sederburg wrote. "However, the use of student fees is under the control of student government. . . . Part of the college experience is to hear different views of the world."
But don't expect only college students to show up Oct. 20 in the 8,000-seat arena named for a former LDS prophet.
"People who have never driven to UVSC in their lives and don't even know what it is may be coming," said David Keller, a philosophy professor at the Orem college. "There is a feeling of electricity in the air unlike anything I've experienced in the eight years I've been here."
Organizers have scrapped plans for walk-up-sales only for Moore's appearance and plan to issue general public tickets for $10. Students from other schools will be charged $5, while UVSC students will get in free. A date for ticket sales has not been announced.
Although Moore's speaking fee is $40,000 - UVSC's student association will shell out $50,000 including travel and security expenses - the Bush-bashing moviemaker prefers admission prices remain around $5. Organizers wanted $10 to help recoup the cost.
On Wednesday, student government representatives also revealed they will bring either Sean Hannity or Michael Reagan, both conservative talk show hosts, to speak the week after Moore's appearance.
"We hope it will bring some balance," said Joe Vogel, vice president of academics for the student government.
That would please Sederburg, who urged students to counter Moore's rhetoric with an "appropriate conservative viewpoint."
Meantime, much is being made over Moore.
"It's been pretty insane here," Kara Eastham, student government secretary, said Wednesday. She has fielded a steady stream of calls from residents and students pledging to protest.
"He is a sensationalist," senior Zachary Fraser said. "His personal ways of making films and trying to solicit reaction, I don't support. And I'm a Democrat."
UVSC spokesman Derek Hall is taking the uproar in stride. He recalled a recent outdoor concert by rapper Nelly when "all of Orem heard the f-bomb."
"Things like that come up on college campuses," Hall said.
News of the "Fahrenheit 911" director's visit - two weeks before the presidential election - has reverberated across the state.
"It's just something you would never think would come to Utah," said Emily Bench, who plans to make the drive with friends from Salt Lake City. "Hopefully, it will open some people's eyes."
Keller, also the director of UVSC's Center for the Study of Ethics, plans to parlay the Moore buzz into a panel discussion later this month. Topics will range from the autonomy of a student body to fund-raising repercussions from controversial speakers.
"This brings to the forefront the role of public education in a homogeneous society," Keller said. "That's what a public institution of higher learning is all about."
djensen@sltrib.com
