Call it Rudolph Giuliani Day at Penn.
The former New York mayor gained national recognition after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and since then, he's earned media attention on topics ranging from his new book to speculation on his political future.
And today's events at the University involving Giuliani will culminate with a lecture in Irvine Auditorium in which eager students say they hope to hear him discuss his past experiences and, perhaps, to gain insight into his future plans.
Earlier in the day, Giuliani will be featured on a taping of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews in Zellerbach Theatre, set to air tomorrow night. In addition, he and Matthews will be signing copies of their books at the Penn Bookstore this afternoon.
Tonight's lecture is co-sponsored by the Social Planning and Events Committee's Connaissance branch and the Provost Spotlight Series. Connaissance Co-Director Tim McCarten said that the speech topic was pitched by Giuliani's agent, and he will deliver a fairly standard speech about his book.
"The subject of the speech is his book, Leadership in Difficult Times," said McCarten, a College senior. "He will go over the themes in that book and his experiences not just on September 11, but throughout his career."
The committee is excited to host Giuliani because he has a great deal to say about a timely issue.
Giuliani "was always our first choice, because you can't get a more timely speaker than Mr. Giuliani," McCarten said. "He is one of the most demanded speakers in the nation right now."
McCarten added that to entice Giuliani, SPEC capitalized on his expressed wish to address a college campus.
"He had a desire to come to a university and speak to students," McCarten said. "And we matched his desire with our desire to hear from" him.
Giuliani will speak for about an hour and then entertain questions for half an hour.
McCarten expects the audience to be about 90 percent students.
Students attending tonight's lecture have their own ideas about what Giuliani will address.
"I am expecting to hear about what leadership in times of turmoil means to him, and the role leadership plays in times like those he faced on September 11," College sophomore Adam Glant said.
"I am not expecting to learn anything about leadership in general, but more about his personal ideas... for me, it will be purely biographical," he added.
Jordan Dubnow agrees with Glant -- he hopes Giuliani's speech will have a personal slant.
"I am interested in hearing what his initial reaction to September 11 was," the College sophomore said. "It was a shocking event, and I am sure his gut was telling him one thing and his mind something else.
"How did he remain calm, or did he not remain calm?" Dubnow said he hopes to learn. "Did he have to step back and make sure his friends and family were OK and then put on his game face and do what a mayor would have to do in the rescue effort?"
Mat Miller, another College sophomore, has different hopes for Giuliani's speech.
"I hope he covers the political side, like how he got into office,"he said.
Miller, who hails from New York, added, "I would not be nearly as excited as I am if the mayor of Los Angeles was coming."
Engineering senior Jason Friess expects a standard speech from the mayor-turned-author.
"I figure he's probably going to talk about his experience on September 11 and the days after that, as well as his new book," Friess predicted, "and he was just hired as a consultant to Mexico City, so he will probably discuss that.
"And I expect someone to ask him what his future political plans are."
But Friess will not ask the question himself -- he attends speeches as a "spectator."
Although the lecture is sold out, tickets remain available for today's Hardball taping. They will be on sale this morning at the Annenberg Center box office.
