Thousands of students, family members and alumni gathered at events across campus last weekend to celebrate Colonials Weekend, headlined this year by comedian Jerry Seinfeld.
More than 8,000 people attended Seinfeld’s two shows in the Smith Center Friday night.
Seinfeld performed shows at 7 and 10 p.m. The former star of the NBC show bearing his last name went on to poke fun at everything from breakfast cereal to the state of his private life since the cancelation of “Seinfeld” in 1998.
“I’ll tell you what I do . I do nothing,” Seinfeld said. “Which is not as easy as it looks.”
At both shows, tickets cost between $57 and $125, an increase from the tickets for Jon Stewart’s Colonials Weekend performances last year that cost $45.
“From a name standpoint, it was worth it,” said parent Ron Blajda. “But I wouldn’t spend that much for a second time.”
Robert Chernak, senior vice president of SASS, said he understands that many students and parents were displeased with the price of this year’s tickets.
GW did not include a major musical act to follow Friday night’s comedy show on Saturday. Chernak said the additional cost to families for a musical event would have been high.
“The reason we didn’t have a musical act was because we were trying to get a musical act in certain parameters,” said Chernak, who wanted a show to have an intergenerational appeal and be reasonably priced.
Another event over the weekend attracting about 1,400 students, parents and family members was a conversation with President Stephen Joel Trachtenberg in Lisner Auditorium.
Trachtenberg, who will be stepping down as University President in July 2007, answered questions ranging from how he met his wife to what he may do next year, all with his trademark humor.
The approximately hour-long conversation Saturday morning was hosted by Dick Golden, a veteran radio broadcaster and host of the XM Satellite radio show “GW Presents Beyond Category.”
Trachtenberg explained the events that led to him attending Columbia University – a result of an intricate compromise with his parents. Although his father wanted him to attend local Brooklyn College and even offered a car to sweeten the deal, his mother just wanted him close to their Brooklyn home.
“Unless I never drove (the car), what’s the value of a ’55 Chevy?” he joked.
Trachtenberg also explained that he was nervous when he accepted a position as an associate dean at Boston University before coming to GW.
“This is for a mouse training to be a rat . he said you were born for the job,” Trachtenberg said.
The conversation took on a nostalgic tone as Trachtenberg took questions from the audience in his last Colonials Weekend as University president.
“You look up one day and 20 years has gone by,” he told the crowd.
“It’s a little melancholy.makes you a little weepy but that’s a good thing,” Trachtenberg said in an interview with The Hatchet after the event.
Rodney Johnson, director of Parent Services, who oversees the family weekend aspect of the event, said he was pleased with this year’s festivities.
“It went very well,” Johnson said. “This only gets done and is successful because of the collaborative work that is done across the entire University.”
About 4,000 families registered to be a part of this years Parent’s Weekend, and Johnson said many families show up without pre-registering. He expects final attendance figures to be higher than initially figured – between 4,500 and 5,000 family guests.
Other events on campus Saturday night included a Cabaret showcase, La Fiestasa and a Kogan Plaza Dessert, Coffee and Music Reception Jazz socials.
-Brandon Butler contributed to this report.
