Blake Mycoskie, philanthropist and founder of TOMS shoes, is accepting $26,500 to speak at the University on Nov. 1, according to Associate Director of Campus Life Jacob Brumfield.
The total cost of the event will be around $31,000 and will be split evenly between the Student Activities Board and the College of Business’ Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute, Brumfield said.
The SAB will pay its portion of the cost of the event, about $15,500, with money from the Campus Life Support Fee, which is for activities and programs on campus, according to Brumfield.
The fee is $20 for full-time students and $1 per credit hour for part-time students and is included in the fee bill.
The Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute will pay its half with part of a large donation given by Tom Bromley, a member of the institute’s Advisory Board. The money was given specifically to pay important speakers to come to the University, according to SEI Associate Director Jarett Rodriguez.
“This is our first time working with the Student Activities Board. It seemed like a great opportunity. The fee to bring in Blake is pretty high, so we’re going to help underwrite that,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez said the event will benefit the institute’s Fellows Program, which provides a real-world education and brings student entrepreneurs, some of whom already have their own businesses, in contact with successful entrepreneurs from around the country.
The Fellows Program brings in speakers every week. The vast majority speak for free through the institute’s business contacts, Rodriguez said.
But Mycoskie’s youth and activeness in the current business market, as opposed to many of the pre-established older entrepreneurs the institute regularly brings in, presented the institute with a unique situation worth paying for, Rodriguez said.
“We pay for one speaker a year, and this year that’s Blake,” Rodriguez said.
The event, titled “An Evening with Blake Mycoskie,” will be a 45- to 60-minute “interactive lecture” and will include a question-and-answer session. It will be held Nov. 1 in the Union Theater, Brumfield said.
Tickets are free and can be picked up in the Union Theater on Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
More than 800 student tickets have already been given out, and tickets weren’t available to the public until Monday, Brumfield said.
“As a public institution, at what point do you charge [the general public] for something that’s of educational value?” Brumfield said.
Because the Union Theater’s capacity is only about 1,300, the event will be simulcast in the Cotillion Ballroom, which can hold 800 additional people, Brumfield said.
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Contact Frederick Holl at [email protected]