Why Ta-Nehisi Coates’ $41,500 UO speech ended earlyYou know, when you are making that kind of money, you can actually afford to insert a rest day in your schedule.Cooper Green — March 10, 2017 at 4:16 pm
Ta-Nehisi Coates, renowned author and public speaker, left the stage at Matthew Knight Arena on Feb. 3 about 35 minutes before his contract with the University of Oregon suggested he would.
Coates, who began speaking to a crowd of 5,548 people at 6 p.m., was scheduled to speak until 7:15. Instead, he was off the stage by 6:40. His schedule also included a question-and-answer period with the crowd, which didn’t occur. …
For the speech and preceding UO events, Coates was paid $41,500. … Coates’ visit was tied to UO’s Common Reading program, which provided his book, “Between the World and Me,” to all first-year students at orientation in 2016.
… The talk was Coates’ fifth in five days, he announced during his speech. The evening before, he was at Oregon State University where he spoke from 6-7:30 p.m. For that event, he was paid $30,000, according to his contract with the university. …
Despite five consecutive speaking engagements, McFadden said Coates’ schedule wasn’t unusual.
“Speakers have that type of schedule all the time,” she said. …
Click the links to read Coates’ full contract with UO and OSU.[Comment at Unz.com]
