One of the most recognizable voices in entertainment will fill Goldstein Auditorium tonight.

James Earl Jones will visit Syracuse University today and deliver a deep, resonating oration at 8 p.m. His lecture, ‘The Cultural Conquest: How Culture Affects Us and We Affect Culture,’ is sponsored by University Union Speakers. It’s part of the university’s effort to bring diversity to campus, said Elliot Roberts, co-director of UU Speakers.

‘Our goal for this year is to bring diverse and talented speakers,’ Roberts said. ‘We worked with his agent and he seemed like the best fit for this semester.’

‘We wanted to bring a prominent and diverse figure who could attract a large audience,’ said Chad Bender, co-director of UU Speakers. ‘We felt that James Earl Jones was the perfect person who fit this description.’

Though Jones will be discussing diversity, it is unlikely that he will cover any of the recent hate-related issues at SU.

‘He will try to relate things to us, but not related to the recent blackface incidents,’ Roberts said.

During his lifetime, Jones has appeared in numerous films and musicals and won two Tony Awards for his work in ‘The Great White Hope’ and ‘Fences.’ Though he’s well known for his voice work as Mufasa in ‘The Lion King’ and Darth Vader in ‘Star Wars,’ Jones actually had a stuttering problem as a child. He still has to consider what he is going to say carefully before he speaks. He was also voted the 45th-greatest movie villain of all time by Maxim magazine for his portrayal of Darth Vader. Jones currently resides in upstate New York.

Local response to Jones’ appearance has been positive.

‘This is a really big name and is prominent in society,’ Bender said. ‘It’s very big as far as speakers go, because instead of distributing our funding among smaller speakers, we decided to spend it all on one larger one.’

‘I think people are excited,’ Roberts said. ‘There’s a buzz going around at the school, and I’ve heard people talking to their friends about whether or not they’re going. There was an article about it in The Post-Standard on Tuesday, and the community is excited as well.’

‘I’m going because I think he’s an interesting personality,’ said Alyssa Weir, a senior public relations and Spanish major. ‘I’m interested to see what he has to say. He’s a vibrant speaker from what I’ve seen on TV.’

So far, nearly half the tickets to the show have been sold. They are still available at the Schine Box Office. Bender expects a full house for the event.

‘We are anticipating that the show will be sold out,’ he said, ‘or close to sold out.’

Published on November 12, 2003 at 12:00 pm