Editor’s Note: In the run-up to next week’s Civil Rights Summit, we hit the West Mall on Thursday to ask students for their thoughts about the ticket distribution system as well as the significance of the event. Below are some of their responses.

Aubrey Folck, speech language pathology sophomore

DT: Are you going to the Civil Rights Summit next week? 

AF: I didn’t know about that. 

DT: Well, there are going to be four former presidents speaking on campus — Clinton, Bush, Obama and Carter. Do you have any thoughts on it?

AF: I think that that is a pretty rare opportunity.

Katie Russell, radio-television-film junior

DT: Do you know about the Civil Rights Summit that’s happening on campus next week?

KR: I’ve heard about it a little bit, yes. 

DT: Did you try and get tickets?

KR: I did. Obviously, I mean Obama is going to be here — Jimmy Carter, Clinton, a lot of great people. I did. But I don’t think I got them. 

DT: How do you feel that there will be four presidents here? What does that mean for our University?

KR: I don’t know. I think it’s really awesome, and it just shows how big UT is and our connections. I think something that’s really great about our school is that we have so many deep alumni connections — and the ability to have these resources that other smaller schools can’t afford this or maybe can’t host this. I think this is a lot about just UT and how established we are as a school. I don’t know. It’s really exciting to me. I’ll maybe come and try to stand and maybe get a glimpse. 

Natalie Escarano, English and speech language pathology senior

DT: Do you know about the Civil Rights Summit that’s happening on campus next week?

NE: Yes.

DT: Did you try and get tickets?

NE: I did not.

DT: Why?

NE: Yeah, I didn’t really know the process, and by the time I heard about it, it was too late already. 

DT: What do you think it means for our campus that we will have four presidents speaking at this summit?

NE: The apocalypse is coming. [Laughs] Sorry, I honestly have no clue. I think it’s great that it’s at our campus. I don’t really have any thoughts on it. It’s just going to happen. 

Ally Finken, human development and family sciences sophomore

DT: Did you try and get tickets for the Civil Rights Summit? 

AF: I did. 

DT: Did you get tickets?

AF: No.

DT: Okay, how do you feel about the whole process? Do you think it was fair? Do you wish you had gotten tickets?

AF: I think it was pretty fair. I mean, I think it was pretty fair. If you wanted to do it you had to apply, and you had to rank them. Of course, I am sure everyone put the Obama one as No. 1. I mean, the only way it could have been unfair is if you wanted to go to one of the lesser ones, and people who did get it didn’t even want to go. 

James Grandberry, journalism junior

DT: Did you try and get tickets for the Civil Rights Summit that’s happening on campus next week?

JG: No, but a lot of my friends did. 

DT: Do you have any thoughts about that process? Do you think it was fair? Should it have been easier to get into it?

JG: I think it might be just based on our initiatives. I think some people might have signed up earlier and got it. I think it was like a lottery. You can say it was unfair, but it seems pretty fair since it was a lottery. 

Tayma Rehn, English junior

DT: Did you try and get tickets for the Civil Rights Summit? 

TR: I did. 

DT: Did you get tickets?

TR: No. I was mad. I was so mad. 

DT: Can you just tell us about the process? Why it makes you mad?

TR: Well, it made me mad because where else are you going to see Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama all in the same place? And I don’t know. I’ve seen speeches of them before, so I thought it would be really cool to see them in person. So I signed up for this newsletter, and you were supposed to get this email and click this link, and I clicked the link like three minutes after the email was sent out, and it was like, “tickets are gone.” And I was not happy. I had been counting down for a week. 

DT: What do you think they could have done differently to make the process better [and] fairer for students?

TR: I mean for students, I had to find out about it because I work over at LBJ, so that’s how I found out about it. But they should have probably sent out an email to everybody, so they could have let us know about the opportunity ahead of time. Because then we could have signed up earlier, and then maybe more people could have gotten tickets. Because I know that only a select few students got an email about it from the dean I think, if they were preapproved, which I don’t understand. 

Lauren Eller, communication studies and human relations junior

DT: Did you try to get tickets for the Civil Rights Summit?

LE: No.

DT: Did you know about the process?

LE: No.

DT: Do you know about the summit?

LE: No. I heard about it briefly, but I didn’t get it in time. 

DT: What does this summit mean for our campus? What does it mean that we’re having four presidents here?

LE: Well, it’s good publicity I guess, but I don’t know. I don’t even know why they’re here or what they’re doing here. I would love to hear them talk, but I am honestly clueless about the whole thing. 

DT: Could the University have done a better job in getting the word out to students?

LE: Yeah, absolutely. I actually asked someone to email me the email because I didn’t see it.