Student Life

Issue date: 10/6/04 Section: News

Media Credit: Emily Tobias Law students Melinda Gorman, left, and Ruth Hollander discuss Sean Hannity´s decision yesterday to cancel his scheduled appearance at the Pageant on Friday. Gorman and Hollander hope to find a replacement speaker.

Media Credit: www.hannity.com Sean Hannity at work on his daily radio show.

Since he can't fly in style, Sean Hannity says he won't come to St. Louis at all.

After promising to counter Michael Moore's speech this Friday, the conservative commentator pulled out of the deal less than a week before his scheduled appearance-but reportedly asked that the media not be informed of his motivations for the decision.

Hannity cited personal reasons for his cancellation, said law student Ruth Hollander after speaking with the right-wing pundit over the phone yesterday. Hannity, Hollander said, requested a private jet to fly him to St. Louis for the speech, but then rejected "several" different jets offered by a private donor. He told Hollander about a "bad experience" with the prominent company that had manufactured all the jets offered for his trip.

"[Hannity's agent] said he thought we should say that because of the short time frame involved, it didn't work out," said Hollander. "I said I didn't think that was the truth, and...I really felt we had met all of our commitments and we were going to be honest when asked."

When Hollander and fellow law student Melinda Gorman failed to locate a jet manufactured by another company, they offered Hannity a first-class ticket on a commercial flight. He refused.

"He was very forceful on the phone," said Hollander. "It was hard to get a word in edgewise with him. He was interrupting me a lot. But that's sort of the nature of his personality-at least, his radio personality and T.V. personality."

Hannity's travel arrangements are also causing a stir at Utah Valley State College, where he is scheduled to speak Oct. 11. The Deseret Morning News reported Saturday that when Hannity's original flight plan fell through, the college agreed to foot the bill for a private Hawker jet to fly him into town. Hannity told the Morning News the "accommodations weren't arranged at his request" and he didn't "want a penny" for his appearance.

Duane Ward of the Premiere Speakers Bureau declined to comment on his client's cancellation.

"I'm extremely disappointed it didn't work out," said Hollander. "It's a really hard thing to understand, to relate to."

For Hollander and Gorman, the disappointment caps three weeks of a frantic scramble to bring Hannity to campus. Just last week, the pair raised $20,000 in 24 hours, booking the conservative commentator to "even the playing field" and counter Michael Moore's speech on Thursday.

"More than anything, I'm disappointed that the event isn't going to occur," said Gorman. "I'm sad that the Wash. U. community is losing out on the opportunity to hear Sean speak."

Gorman was on a walk-through of the Pageant, where Hannity was to appear Friday morning, when she heard definitively that the ABC Radio host had reneged on his agreement.

"I was actually standing on the Pageant stage when my cell phone rang," said Gorman. "I was startled to hear that there were complications. There were multiple parties involved in this planning and this information was news to me."

The students had contacted several private citizens to help finance the effort, including individuals at the St. Louis Chapter of the Republican National Committee. Now, they're in the process of returning all the donations.

"We've really put our hearts and souls into getting this thing taken care of," said Hollander. "The amount of time that we've spent every single day for the last week working on this thing non-stop. It's been such a huge time commitment for two people that don't have a lot of time to waste on this."

Also on their to-do list: canceling the four off-duty police officers Hannity had requested for extra security and recycling the 250 posters that had been printed for the occasion. "The posters are still sitting in the back of my SUV," said Gorman.

The law students-who fielded at least five phone calls each during an interview yesterday- say they will be glad to get their lives back.

"In retrospect, I really wish it could have turned out differently, because we really wanted to do this," said Hollander. "The original goal always was to provide a counter to Michael Moore, to provide a neutral forum for the debate, to let students hear both sides of the issue."

They are still planning to attend Michael Moore's speech tomorrow.

"We were always planning to go see Moore," said Gorman. "We just wanted to see both."

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