Students will no longer have to look for a cardboard cutout version of University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild after seeing the real Wild at tonight's open forum with Provost Madeline Wake and Senior Vice President Greg Kliebhan.
The forum, which is sponsored by Marquette Student Government, occurs once per semester and will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the first-floor lobby of the Alumni Memorial Union.
"Students will have a great opportunity to ask questions and get answers about the issues important to them," Brigid O'Brien Miller, director of university communication, said via e-mail.
MUSG encourages students to attend the forum and ask about anything that concerns them, said MUSG President Alex Hermanny, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences.
"I think there will be questions asked about the residence halls, dining on campus, student representation following the nickname decision from last year and (recreation) facilities," Hermanny said.
He said significant changes have happened directly as a result of past forums in areas ranging from construction timelines to vegan dining options to awareness of and adherence to existing academic policies.
To promote the forum, MUSG sponsored the "Where's Wild-O" competition, in which students could register on the MUSG Web site at www.mu.edu/musg for a drawing if they spotted a cardboard cutout of Wild somewhere on campus during the past week.
Hermanny said MUSG placed the cutout at places like the Brew Bayou, Jimmy John's, the Golden Eagle Spirit Shop and the Joan of Arc chapel. Students may continue to enter until about 2 p.m. today.
The grand prize is an iPod Nano, and other prizes include Milwaukee Brewers merchandise, Jimmy John's gift certificates and MUSG gear, Hermanny said.
"Just the fact that we've already had over 100 people participate in the Where's Wild-O contest and that they have to be present at the forum to win, that's already (a number) of people who will be there," said Laura Herzing, MUSG communications vice president and a senior in the College of Communication. "We estimate that around 125 people will participate by the end of the contest."