Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich will speak to the Northwestern community at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 2 at Cahn Auditorium. The event, titled "Ethics in Politics: An evening with Former Governor Rod Blagojevich," is sponsored by College Democrats.
"A conversation about ethics and politics is important to have," said Dan Rockoff, vice president of programming for College Democrats. "There isn't a better person out there to discuss this than former Governor Rod Blagojevich."
Because four out of the last eight Illinois governors before Gov. Pat Quinn have been indicted, corruption was a key issue during the Illinois primary elections, Rockoff said.
Blagojevich (WCAS '79) will have 15 minutes to plead his case before an NU faculty panel can begin asking questions, Rockoff said. The panel will include Law Professor Tonja Jacobi, Political Science Professor Donald Gordon and Medill Professor Donna Leff, the Communication senior said.
"The majority of the event will be an interplay between the faculty panel and the former governor," he said.
After the faculty panel has finished, students will have the opportunity to ask questions, Rockoff said.
"Our belief is that students at Northwestern are interested in debating this issue," he said. "They will be interested to see this kind of dialogue."
Derrick Wu said he was excited when he received a Facebook invite to the event.
"It is absolutely a great idea to bring a prominent, controversial figure," the Bienen and Weinberg sophomore said.
The event will be effective because it gives students an opportunity to experience a newsworthy event, rather than read about it, Wu said.
Although College Democrats is not sure when tickets will be available, the Norris University Center Box Office will begin distributing them later this week, Rockoff said. There will be about 1,000 free tickets for the NU community, he said.
— Lauren Mogannam
is a member of the 
24 comments
Your student activities fee is paying for it. So thank ASG for allocating hundreds of thousands of dollars to a group that consists of three active members (as reported to me by my roommate who attended a meeting or two not too long ago). Who says ASG is broken?
A question Milorad should be able to answer (because P.F. has not brought charges in the case) IS...Why did he make a deal with Tony Rezko his partner's Aiham Alsammarae and Daniel T. Frawley of Companion Security to bring 150 unvetted Iraqi militants' here to a military base in Savanna Illinois to train to use AK-47's??? What was he thinking??? How could this venture possibly benefit the people of Illinois??? Jobs, I don't think so! Did it ever occur to him to vet the people who were going to sponsor this bid??? Alsammarae was convicted in Iraq for stealing over $650 million dollars from the U.S., escaped back to the U.S "Chicago style"...His conviction in Iraq was lifted by Prime Minister Maliki stating ,"no Minister could be investigated without their permission".
Daniel T. Frawley has millions of dollars in judgements against him from non-payment to assault and stalking. He was fired from the Chicago police dept. for being an extreme racist and attacks on fellow officiers. During the time of their government bid Daniel T. Frawley had no office, no home not even a fax machine. The 52 year old was living with his sister Maureen Frawley. Was it a coinsidence when her home was robbed of 3 guns and over $100,000 in cash just days before Jill Morganthaler (head of home land security in Illinois) sent an email to o.k. the military base in Savanna??? I don't think soooo. This wasn't just a case of "pay to play" it was treason.