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Olmos's MSE speech postponed in light of writers strike

Issue date: 11/15/07
In light of strikes in Hollywood, Edward James Olmos has postponed his speech with the Milton S. Eisenhower Symposium (MSE).

Olmos was scheduled to speak on November 8, as the last speech of this year's symposium.

"The event with Edward James Olmos is postponed and not canceled for reasons pertaining to the Writer's Guild strike," said Joseph Colon, assistant director of the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs.

Olmos "has committed to come next semester and we look forward to his wisdom and take on world issues," Colon said.

"We haven't set any concrete plans as of yet, however we are definitely planning on bringing him in the spring," said junior Chris Louie, president of Organizacion Latina Estudantil (OLE), co-sponsors of the Olmos speech.

"Obviously we're disappointed, being that he would have given a great presentation and ... always brings a great perspective on culture and society. However, given the circumstances we understand it was something uncontrollable," he said.

Contract negotiations broke down between the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the heads of movie studios and televisions networks, collectively known as the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.

The main point of contention in the strike has been the issue of writers' payment for Web-created content and digital downloads.

Olmos, a veteran of stage, film and television for more than 30 years, currently stars as Commander William Adama on Battlestar Galactica, a TV program on the SciFi channel.

According to Colon, Olmos negotiated with the program's production company in order to speak at Hopkins. This speech would have taken place while he was contractually obligated to be filming.

"When the film company got the news, they mandated that the actors and crew finish the filming from the completed scripts they had before the strike," he said.

Securing Olmos as a speaker at Hopkins had been difficult despite his history as a speaker.
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