People disappointed in their efforts to get tickets to hear former President Bill Clinton’s May 21 speech will have a second chance. University officials have moved the inaugural Dole lecture from the Lied Center to Allen Fieldhouse.

“The tremendous demand for tickets — from students, faculty, and the community at large — outweigh the problems with moving to the Fieldhouse,” interim Dole Institute director Stephen McAllister said. “We agreed to this move because, from the beginning, it was our intent to open the event up to as many people as possible.”

Tickets scarce for Clinton talk (5-13-04)

The date and time for the speech remain unchanged: 2:15 p.m. May 21.

The event will still be ticketed, and a ticket will be required for admission to the lecture.

The Lied Center tickets distributed Wednesday morning will be honored in the new venue. An announcement will be made as to the distribution of the other tickets, which will be offered early next week as soon as logistics can be arranged. Students, faculty, and staff will be given priority in the ticket distribution scheme.

About 3,000 people lined up outside the Lied Center, the original site for the lecture, on Wednesday morning in search of tickets. According to Kansas University officials, about 65,000 telephone calls were made to the ticket office between 11 a.m. and noon. The Lied Center seats 1,900 people.

“The bottom line is there should be plenty of tickets for all those interested with this change of venue,” McAllister said. “We all want the inaugural lecture to be a stellar event — for the community, our students, Senator Dole and President Clinton.”