Students interested in attending the Dalai Lama’s upcoming lecture began lining up as early as 9 p.m. Sunday to be among the first in line for the second round of ticket distribution Monday morning.

The Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, will speak as part of GW’s “Democratic Invention” series at Lisner Auditorium Nov. 10. Tickets originially were distributed Oct. 26, but students who waited in line criticized TicketMaster for providing little information about ticket availability that day, leaving them waiting in line for hours.

Monday, about 100 tickets were given out to GWorld card holders at TicketMaster’s Marvin Center location. Freshmen Sharif Zawaideh and Jessica Roessel were the first in line. They brought pillows, sleeping bags, flashlights and portable radios to prepare for the long night ahead of them.

“I was here since 9 o’clock,” Zawaideh said. “That’s 12 hours.”

Zawaideh said he and several others arrived shortly before TicketMaster closed Sunday, informing officials of their intention to spend the night waiting for tickets. He said officials from the University allowed people to stay on the steps as long as they were GW students.

Lynn Shipway, director of University Special Events, said the ticket distribution went smoothly. Shipway said every effort was made to ensure the policies were as clear as possible to those waiting in line for tickets. Marvin Center staff members posted signs outside the TicketMaster doors clearly stating the ticket distribution policy to eliminate confusion, she said.

Shipway said all tickets originally given to GW have been distributed to students. The other sponsors of the event, the National Endowment for Democracy and the International Campaign for Tibet, may not use all their allotted tickets. Those tickets then would be given to GW and distributed in a similar fashion to GWorld card holders.