Published: Jan 25, 2010
President
Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will hold a town hall meeting
at The University of Tampa on Thursday, Jan. 28. It is the first
appearance President Obama will make after delivering the State of the
Union address on Wednesday evening.
The town hall meeting will be held in the
Martinez Sports Center,
which is located on the west end of campus. Doors open at 10:30 a.m.,
and the event begins at 12:30 p.m. The meeting will be free and open to
the public, but tickets will be required.
According to records,
this is the first time in UT’s nearly 80-year history that a sitting
president has made an official visit to the UT campus.
Ticket
distribution is being handled by White House staff. Tickets for the
general public will be distributed on Wednesday, Jan. 27, from noon to 2
p.m. at the Martinez Sports Center, on a first-come, first-served
basis. Tickets will be distributed two per person.
A limited number of tickets will be reserved for UT faculty, staff and students.
Students
should check their UT e-mail account for specific directions on getting
tickets to the event. The tickets for UT students will be available for
pick up on Wednesday, Jan. 27, from 4 to 6 p.m., on the second floor of
the Vaughn Center. Students are asked to start lining up no earlier
than noon. One ticket will be given per registered UT student with proof
of a current, UT ID.
There will be no public parking on the UT
campus for the event or ticket distribution. Individuals are advised to
use on-street parking, the Poe Garage in downtown Tampa or the northern
part of the 1300 block of Kennedy Boulevard.
Tampa Police
Department has advised that North Boulevard, between Kennedy Boulevard
and Cass Street, will be closed starting at 6 a.m. on Thursday. North B
and North A streets west of North Boulevard will also be closed. Other
area streets may be closed at the discretion of law enforcement.
Faculty,
staff and students may park in the Howard Johnson parking lot and take a
shuttle to campus. Shuttles will run on their normal schedules.
Faculty, staff and students may also park in the Ferman lot in the 1300
block of Kennedy Boulevard (at Willow Avenue). A HART shuttle will be available from the lot to campus, starting at 7 a.m.
For questions, contact the Office of Public Information at (813) 253-6232.
View campus map.