More than half of the tickets for the Dalai Lama’s Oct. 10 visit to the College of William & Mary will go to students and staff, but community members will have a chance to see the Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Approximately 8,200 seats will be available for the 14th Dalai Lama’s presentation at the Kaplan Arena. Free tickets will be reserved for 4,300 students and 900 faculty and staff; given the expected demand, a random lottery will determine the campus community members receiving tickets. Those selected through the lottery will be eligible for one ticket each.
The general public will have an opportunity to purchase the approximately 3,000 tickets and unclaimed lottery tickets available. Tickets will range from $15 to $25, based on proximity to the stage. Lower level general admission is $25 and upper level general admission is $15. Due to limited seating, no more than two tickets can be purchased at one time.
Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis and may be purchased beginning at 8 a.m. Sept. 17 at TicketReturn.com. Sales will not be made by phone or in person.
The event will be held at 2 p.m. He is expected to lecture on the virtues of human compassion. The Dalai Lama’s stop in Williamsburg is one of several scheduled during his upcoming fall tour of U.S. colleges and universities. His visit to W&M was organized by the Student Assembly, the student leadership organization at the college.
The Dalai Lama has been recognized for his message of peace, inter-religious understanding, universal responsibility and compassion with several awards, honorary doctorates and prizes. He is the author of more than 72 books.
He is the longest-living incumbent Dalai Lama, the head monks believed by Tibetan Buddhists to be a manifestation of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. A bodhisattva is a being who refrains from entering nirvana by devoting his life to saving others. The 14th Dalai Lama was formally recognized in 1950, at the age of 15. He established a Tibetan government in exile in 1959, following China’s assertion of control of the country.
