Matthew McConaughey visit to campus postponed: new speaker to be announced
By Mia Antonini ’26, News Editor
Dazed and Confused (1993), among other films. Photo Courtesy of Flickr.
On Jan. 16, Hamilton announced through a campus-wide email that Mattthew McConaughey’s visit to campus, originally scheduled for Thursday, April 18, was postponed. His visit to campus was organized through the Sacerdote Great Names Speaker Series.
“It’s not a cancellation,” Lisa Magnarelli ’96, Hamilton’s Director of Col-
lege Events and Scheduling, told The Spectator, “he is committed to coming, but needs to postpone.” As explained in the campus-wide
email sent earlier this month, the reason for the postponement was “a conflict with filming a new McConaughey movie.” Magnarelli also attributes this scheduling conflict to the writers’ and actors’ strikes which delayed filming schedules for upcoming films. “We tried to reschedule for the spring,” says Magnarelli, “but couldn’t find a date that worked with his calendar and either student’s schedules or the field house availability.”
Erin Merenich ’26 told The Spectator, “I’m deeply upset that Matthew won’t be coming. I have looked forward to the event since its announcement and am hoping they will be able to provide an exciting speaker in his absence.”
Merenich is not the only one disappointed by the announcement. “I had marked the date in my planner in pen, and seeing the constant reminder of what could have been continues to be a struggle,” said Julia Granito ’26.
However, while some students were upset by the news, others felt less strongly about the postponement. “I don’t know if I was really looking forward to it, so I’m not feeling loss at this news,” says Sadie Wallis ’24.
Though this event was postponed, another speaker will come to campus through the program in the spring. “We do have an announcement coming soon for a spring speaker,” said Magnarelli, “Stay tuned! I
think people will be excited. I know I am!”
In McConaughey’s place, Lily Rizzoli ’24 told The Spectator, “They bet-
ter give us something real darn good!”
The Sacerdote Great Names Series was founded in 1996, with a mission to connect the Hamilton community with eminent global fig-
ures through a free and accessible forum, either through open lectures or smaller conversations.
Previous speakers of the Series have included Tina Fey, The Right Honour-
able David Cameron and Neil deGrasse Tyson. In selecting speakers for the program, Magnarelli explained, “there is a selection committee that includes two students and the group brainstorms ideas and develops a short list of names for consideration. I work with various agencies to determine price, availability and scheduling — if all those pieces fall into place, we have a speaker!”
The Sacerdote Great Speaker Series is a result of the generosity of Peter and Bonnie Sacerdote and their son Alex Sacerdote ’94.
