SPEAKER Hamid Karzai To Speak at GU By Arianne Aryanpur Hoya Staff Writer

Afghanistan’s Interim Authority Chairman Hamid Karzai will make his first public appearance in the U.S. at Georgetown this Sunday, the university announced yesterday.

Karzai’s visit commences a three-day official state visit to Washington, D.C. This will mark the first time since 1963 that an Afghan leader has visited the capital.

In his address to university students, faculty and the Afghan community in McDonough Gymnasium, Karzai will discuss the importance of providing educational opportunities for the people of his country.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, United Nations led negotiations in Germany resulted in the creation of a post-Taliban interim administration in Afghanistan. A relative of the former Afghan king Zahir Shah, Karzai assumed the interim position Dec. 22 2001. He has been given six months to prepare his government for the transition into a multi-ethnic system of rule.

“The university is proud to be able to serve as the venue for this historic event, giving students, faculty and staff an opportunity to participate and providing support to the Afghan community,” Assistant Vice President for Communications Julie Green Bataille said.

Tickets for Georgetown students will be available through a lottery system in order to ensure fair ticket distribution, according to Bataille.

Interested students will have the opportunity to fill out a lottery card today and Saturday from 3:30-5 p.m. in the Leavey Center lobby.

Student’s names will be drawn from the cards daily and the chosen names will be posted in Leavey at 12 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. According to Green Bataille, students whose names are drawn will be able to pick up their ticket in person Sunday at 3:30 p.m.

“This system was organized to try to alleviate students’ concerns about some previous ticket distributions, which mandated long lines and forced students to choose between missing class or other obligations to stay in line for an event ticket,” Green Bataille said.

Doors for the event open at 4:30 p.m. but for security reasons they will close at 6:30 p.m. and remain closed until the event ends.

Students said they were excited about the event.

“A lot of students are out of touch with the real world and the information that they get is filtered through the media,” Jess Melton (COL ’03) said. “This is a great opportunity for us to stay involved in what’s going on in the real world.”

Jack Somers (COL ’04) agreed.

“Considering the state of current events this is probably one of the most important political events you could go to,” he said. “I’m definitely going to go into the lottery.”

“I’m impressed that [the university] was able to get him to speak here,” Beth Halloway (SFS ’04) said. “I’m sure [the lottery line] is going to be mobbed.”