Winners of Netanyahu tix informed by e-mail

Winners of the Connaissance fall speaker lottery were notified by e-mail early Monday morning of their chance to purchase two tickets to hear former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu speak October 6 in Irvine Auditorium. About 600 PennCard holders -- including undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and staff members -- were chosen randomly from among approximately 2,100 lottery entrants, Connaissance Co-Chairperson Theo LeCompte said, noting that most who entered the lottery were undergraduates. LeCompte, an Engineering junior, noted that he could not provide an exact number of entrants because several students entered multiple times, despite lottery rules which said each PennCard holder could enter only once. People selected in the lottery will be able to purchase up to two tickets at $10 each on either Wednesday or Thursday. Any tickets not purchased on those days will be sold to randomly selected PennCard holders entered in the original lottery who weren't chosen in the first round, LeCompte said. He noted that no additional tickets will be made available for the event. LeCompte said that only ticketholders will be able to see and hear Netanyahu's remarks since the former prime minister's agent will not permit Connaissance to rebroadcast the event publicly in any way. "There's nothing we could do about that," he noted. However, a tape of Netanyahu's remarks may be made available to small groups in the future. Several students who did win the opportunity to purchase tickets mixed their excitement at being able to hear Netanyahu speak with regret for those less fortunate. "I'm happy that I got tickets," College sophomore Amy Gross said, adding that it would have been better if a larger venue with more seats could have been available for the event. However, she said, "I understand why that's not feasible."