By Andrew Desiderio
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev last Thursday canceled his upcoming visit to GW on October 1st due to health reasons. The cancellation came just days after The School of Media and Public Affairs and the Media Student Community Council (MSCC), one of the event's co-sponsors, announced that SMPA Director Frank Sesno would interview Gorbachev in Lisner Auditorium.
Now, SMPA and the Media Student Community Council, who spent months planning the event, are determined to move forward.
“President Gorbachev is welcome to appear at GW at any time, and we await word from his agency on when that may occur,” said Samara Sit, the Director of Administration and Special Projects for SMPA.
Gorbachev recently backed out of other events for health reasons, including Margaret Thatcher’s funeral in April.
The former Soviet leader was also supposed to speak at Principia College in Illinois on Oct. 3rd, just two days after he planned on speaking at GW. GW would have been Gorbachev’s only DC stop on his US tour.
Student reaction across campus has been one of disappointment.
“I’m a little bit disappointed, but I understand the circumstances," said Jonathan Adams, a Columbian College Freshman. "I’m sure there will be an opportunity for him to return sometime in the future. I wish him the best with his health.”
The Media Student Community Council was surprised by the news but is quickly looking to move forward.
“I speak for myself as well as the rest of the MSCC E-board when I say that we were utterly devastated by today’s news,” John Torrisi, chairman of MSCC, wrote in an email to members.
Torrisi, a GW senior in SMPA, attempted to lift members’ spirits.
“We will work diligently with SMPA to replace this event with a bigger and better one later this school year.”
Despite the apparent disappointment around campus, Torrisi assured MSCC members that the organization’s goal is to bring another world-class speaker to GW.
“I promise you that we will work tirelessly to achieve it.”
In the email sent to members, there is a link to a survey that asks members to name current or former Heads of State they would like to see speak on campus.
In the first Student Association Senate meeting of the academic year on September 9th SA Finance Chair Ryan Counihan reported that the Student Association had contributed thousands of dollars for the Gorbachev event. Counihan told WRGW News, though, that there is no policy in place that the event either needs be replaced or the money needs to be returned. However, he would not comment further about what would happen with the money until the next Student Association Senate Meeting, which will be on October 7th.
McKinley Kant and Myles Goldman contributed to this report.
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