The Golden Tickets Have Arrived

Tickets for lottery winners became available Wednesday in Lerner Hall, where representatives of the University Programs and Events offices checked student IDs against a seemingly short list of four or five pages (in landscape orientation, no less). An email advertising the lottery had reported that 25% of available seats would be allocated to Columbia students.

Repeated inquiries as to the composition of the remaining 75% were met with stoic referrals to the Office of Communications and Public Affairs, who have so far refused to elaborate on the details of the ticketing process.

Why all the secrecy?

And the winner is...

Students were notified this morning, via email, that they will be one of the lucky few to gain entry to the ServiceNation Forum this Thursday. Students can claim tickets at the East Ramp Lounge in Lerner Center between 2:30 and 5:00 pm today and 10:00 am through 1:00 pm tomorrow.

The email students received stipulated there will be no electronics of any kind, not even cell phones, allowed in the auditorium. Neither will bags, food, banners or signs.

Entry to the auditorium begins at 4:30 Thursday afternoon and goes until 6:30, at which time it says doors will be locked. Attendees will enter through a metal detector and may not get back in if they leave the building.

Security looks to be tight.

More on this to come.

"Lottery winners will be notified via e-mail on Monday, Sept. 8"

So... anybody win the golden ticket yet?

To Get a Ticket for Obamacain, Keep Clicking

“Sure, the chances are slim anyway—but we all want a fair shot,” blogged undergrad Tom Faure for The Spectator after the ticket lottery for the talk went online Friday. Like thousands of other students, Faure couldn’t get through for hours because the server was so bogged down. But he clicked away until, finally, success. What did he have to say about the process? Registration, he writes, was a great way to “waste your morning hitting refresh.” The lottery, which was scheduled to close at 4:00 p.m. Friday, was extended until Monday morning.

The Bwog, Columbia's undergrad magazine, has Brangelina-fied the visit, dubbing it "Obamacain."