The rabble-rousing filmmaker is set to speak at the school's McKay Events Center at noon. But anyone without a ticket has to find a scalper. Moore sold out just five days after the event was announced last month.
Yet some are still angling to keep the liberal speaker out of town.
On Monday, Kay Anderson - the Orem resident who brandished a $25,000 cashier's check to cancel the event - and UVSC senior Dan Garcia filed a lawsuit seeking to void the school's contract with Moore. They contend it was not properly executed.
But because the suit does not call for an injunction, Moore's speech - expected to draw 8,000 people and a considerable posse of protesters - should proceed as scheduled.
"If you really are the champion of the little guy, you can come for free or not come at all," Garcia said Tuesday.
Jim Bassi, UVSC's student-body president, remains philosophical.
"This is just another thing that's come up that we'll have to deal with," he said. "I'm just excited for tomorrow evening when it's all over and I can relax and watch the Astros game."
Student leaders have been in the cross hairs for weeks. They were criticized for offering Moore $40,000 plus $10,500 for travel and security expenses. That led UVSC, with help from administrators, to lure conservative talk-show host Sean Hannity to campus Oct. 11. While Hannity waived his $100,000 speaking fee, the school - with help from gubernatorial candidate Jon Huntsman Jr. and donors - paid nearly $50,000 for travel.
Between the two events, the school recouped $70,000 in ticket sales.
Still, Bassi along with vice president Joe Vogel, face a recall petition and now, the lawsuit. The suit, which also names student council adviser Phil Clegg, claims the student-government association disenfranchised its members by obligating the organization to a contract without calling for a student vote.
It claims extra money for cleaning and security brings the tab for the "Fahrenheit 9/11" director to $63,250.
"We don't feel it's a free-speech issue at all," Garcia added. "It's about fiscal responsibility."
The matter has been referred to the Attorney General's Office, which represents the college.
As a show of support, the Utah Student Association - composed of Utah's collective student-body presidents and officers - will attend Moore's speech.
But Anderson, who will also be in attendance, insists the moviemaker-turned-cult figure has nothing to offer "our valley."
"His hatred and his divisiveness is not something I would promote here," Anderson said. "These are college kids. They make mistakes. But to see the administration backing them when it's outside the law is very disconcerting."
djensen@sltrib.com
