<p>There was an interesting little throw away piece in the Buffalo News about Al Gore speaking contracts. It seems that someone filed an FOIA to see what he charged and what was in the contract. It caught my eye because Al spoke at my sons university just a week or two later and hos school was in New Orleans and seriously impacted financially by katrina.</p>
<p>Now my politics and Al's are a little different but he certainly has some provocative ideas that deserve to be seriously discussed on college campuses across the country and he is a former VP and potentially a future president so I don't have any issues with any school bringing him to campus to speak. I was however a downright shocked at the price tag - $100,000 to have him come on what is essentially a book promotion tour. I thnk one could legitimately ask at what point a speaking fees ceases to be a legitimate honorarium and becomes a de facto campaign contribution. </p>
<p>Buffalo is a state school and so could be forced to reveal the contents of the contract. Private schools don't operate under the same FOIA rules and so I don't know what my son's New Orleans school paid (if anything), but they just finished dropping graduat programs, closing schools, and laying off tenured profs because of financial exigency. Given that I'd think $100,000+ for one speech might be a little bit of an extravagance no matter the speaker. </p>
<p>I wonder what other prominent figures charge for these types of appearances at schools and I wonder what the typical funding source is.</p>
<p>dont speakers often donate their pay to something?
Ds school always has alums speak- and I don't know what they are paid, but I assume they would be paid for their time and comped for hotel and meals</p>
<p>that does seem like a lot for a public school- but I don't think it is unusual as a fee thinking of what speakers of comparable "stature" are paid for other events- like fundraising auctions</p>
<p>I guess I am not up on the campaigns, is Gore running for something?</p>
<p>Gingrich was paid $38,000 to speak to the College Republicans at University of Vermont ( who were later decertified I think, since they spent more than they had)</p>
<p>Maybe it is the politicos way of telling how much they are "wanted".
;)</p>
<p>My daughter was smart enough to attend most of Speakers talks when they came to her college. In the last nine years (according to USNWR) they have hosted Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Former Presidents George Bush and Jimmy Carter; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor; Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, and NY Time Journalist, Thomas Friedman, and Illinois Senator Barack Obama (Spring 2006). Other notable speakers/performers/entertainers are Maya Angelou, poet; Val Kilmer, actor; Jane Goodall, environmentalist; David McCullough, author, Erin Brockovich, activist; George Mitchell, former US Senator. I know that she personally attended Barack Obama's talk, David McCullough, and Coretta Scott King's talks. </p>
<p>She attended a well endowed private college, but I think whatever it cost, it was money well spent. Many of our local colleges host the same caliber of speakers and their talks are often open to the public with a nominal or low cost. I am guilty of not taking advantage and attending.</p>
<p>Those speakers may all be worthwhile but $100K + expenses is more than many an Assistant Professor of climatology makes in a year. I applaud Al Gore for raising the issue and can't criticise him for his capitalistic entrepreneurship in making a buck in the process, but I have to question if even a well endowed private school ought to be paying that much for one speech. </p>
<p>Or to put it another way why as a taxpayer funding Pell grants for poor students to attend these schools (among other things) I have to wonder if maybe the schools couldn't carry a little more of the burden out of those large endowments if they have sufficient income to pay $100K for a speech. I am pretty confident Al is not going to go hungry if his honorariums are a little smaller since I as a taxpayer am already giving him a pretty decent pension. The same could be said for former Speaker Newt Gingrich.</p>
<p>Good points for schools that receive federal funding. My daughters school recieves NO federal funding. They do not have work study (something else through the school, but not work study), and do not participate in Stafford or PLUS loans. If anyone is funding it, it's the alumni.</p>
<p>I believe the Speakers at my daughters college are funded through it's own account. I'm not sure about that but they refer to it as the George Andrews Speakers Series. I just checked and their lectures are open to the public there. Around here the announcements for lectures at local colleges are buried in the paper so it's probably only the most diligent citizens that take advantage.</p>
<p>I believe that the $100K figure is what a corporation pays someone to speak. I'd be very surprised if Al Gore charged anything to speak at a university. Universities do not, as far as I know, have a budget for that sort of thing. They might pay him if they had gotten a bunch of people to pay to attend.</p>
<p>I get paid when I teach in an executive program at a university (though a lot less than my private rate) but would not get paid to address the school on an important academic issue.</p>
<p>shawbridge follow the link in the OP. He chatged $100K plus there was a clause in the contract that the terms of the contract were not to be made public. Somebody filed an FOIA and forced the University of Buffalo to reveal the terms of the contract and since it was a state school it had to comply.</p>
<p>kathiep - maybe Al will speak for free at Pricipia if they promise him a ride in the solar car. It is worth a shot.</p>
<p>It looks like Al Gore was paid $100K for a speech at UCSD recently. I'm saddened that any money I pay the school for tuition or any of my tax dollars that go to this public U might end up in the pocket of Gore - </p>
...The cost, according to a UCSD website, was paid for by various arms of the public university itself, along with Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the San Diego Foundation. The Union-Tribune reported that Gore was paid $100,000 for his trouble...
[/quote]
In addition, the contract indicated he was to be paid for first class airfare ($12,200), first class hotel accommodations for a 3 hour party, $1000 per diem, no press allowed, etc.</p>
<p>All of the above for his own infomercials but some people seem to like listening to it anyway.</p>
<p>Gore's not the only one collecting bucks for speaking fees. Plenty of politicians from all parties do this.</p>
<p>Wow. Sorry I didn't read the link. That is stunning. Especially the amount. Why do they need to pay him much if anything? I didn't think you need to get paid to run for office.</p>
<p>Well in Al's case he may need to get paid for running for office because his chances of getting paid for holding one are pretty non-existent :-)</p>
<p>OK that was cruel and uncalled for. Obviously I don't know the answer to your question. It is almost a form of money laundering. I think what usually happens is that some person. business. or foundation that wants to curry favour or promote an agenda but doesn't or can't be seen directly supporting a candidate or issue uses a colleg as a cut-out for funneling money. It is probably not limited to Al Gore either.</p>
<p>Follow the money and see where it leads. The exorbitant fee for a politician ostensibly invited by some student government organization will be funded by a business or nonprofit that doesn't want to be directly connected with sponsoring a tour. The nonprofit might be yet another cutout.</p>
<p>Doubt there is anything illegal in any of this but it is interesting how the public agenda winds up getting set by big behind the scenes money. Of course it happens across the political spectrum but these particular forums on elite university campuses are easier to work for the Left than the Right. Also more money in Left leaning think tanks.</p>
<p>I attend SUNY Buffalo and believe it or not $100,000 is not an unusual payment for guest speakers in the lecture series the university holds every year. I've read in one of the school newspapers that Donald Trump was paid the same amount of money when he spoke at UB two years ago. I don't know how much the Dalai Lama was paid when he spoke at UB last September, if anything, or how much Senator Charles Schumer was paid when he spoke at the College of Arts and Sciences Commencement in 2006.</p>
<p>I went to said presentation in New Orleans (it was open to the public for free, so my high school chem. class went), and it appeared as if Al Gore was treated like royalty. Talk of a party from the previous night/morning was mentioned, and I believe it was from the woman who introduced him.</p>
<p>It saddens me to think that the school would pay that much, but honestly, it would not surprise me from my knowledge the school.</p>
<p>Speakers command fees ranging from a few hundred dollars to 100k+ depending on their visibility and popularity. It's the free market in action. Colleges, whether public or private, have the option to limit their expenditures on speakers' fees. But if they want to attract popular speakers, they will have to pay the going rate. Some speakers donate their fees to charities, but speaking engagements are a major source of income for some. Not long ago, it was reported that Bill Clinton had made several millions in speaking fees.
Commencement speakers usually deliver boiler plate inspiring speeches; but not always. At Harvard Commencements General Marshall announced the Marshall Plan (1947); Helmut Schmidt implored the US to sign SALT-II; Koffi Annan lambasted GW Bush.</p>
<p>Hmm it may seem like the free market in action but I am not sure how free that market actually is. When you get a tax deduction for funding a speaker series that promotes your favourite politician or cause because there is a college or university acting as a cut-out is that really the free market? Could you give $100K directly to your favourite politician and write it off your federal taxes? Is it a free market when the funding source is mandatory student activity fees that are paid in part through federally subsidized student loans?</p>
<p>In any event my only real objection is the ballooning size of these fees. Like college atheletics and maybe for some of the same reasons these costs are skyrocketing while college education becomes less affordable for many Americans. It is a crowded marketplace out there for all the schools and each wants to offer the shiniest bauble to their prospective customers.</p>
<p>I don't know how it's done at public universities, but private ones have speakers series with their own budgets. The fees do not come from student fees (though, of course, they come from tuition income partly). As for ÿour favorite politician, the recent shenanigans that greeted a representative from the Minutemen suggests that universities do not speak with one voice and different groups invite their own preferred speakers.</p>
<p>The thread inspired me to look up the speakers fees for some well-known figures. Laura Ingraham and Pat Buchanan both command fees in the $20-30k range. Ann Coulter's fee is about $25k. Tim Russert's fee is $60K plus first class airfare for 2 if on the West Coast, $50k if on the East Coast. Al Gore's fee is far higher, to be sure, but a case can be made that he is a more important figure than any of the speakers above (though he put me to sleep when I heard him for free).</p>
<p>I did not get to hear Tim Russert, but the Harvard Crimson later reported that he had cribbed from his own prior speeches extensively (and tallied the number of times). Of course, they were still smarting from the College's decision to invite a non-controversial speaker who would deliver a non-profanity-laced speech after the previous year's choice of Ali G (aka Sascha Baron Cohen, aka Borat).</p>