Wigand tickets still available

Tickets are still available for an apperance by former tobacco industry scientist Jeffrey Wigand at the Wisconsin Union Theater, 7:30 pm., Wednesday, March 7.

Free tickets will be available at the Union Theater Box Office 11:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. this week.

Wigand’s fight against Big Tobacco was chronicled in the film “The Insider.” In 1994, Wigand shared his knowledge of cigarette product design with staff at the federal Food and Drug Administration, making him a key witness in subsequent tobacco litigation.

He continues to fight against the power of the tobacco lobby through his nonprofit organization, Smokefree Kids, Inc. He was originally slated to speak in the first of this year’s Distinguished Lecture Series last fall, but had to postpone due to a scheduling conflict.

Upcoming speakers include Ralph Nader, Green Party presidential candidate, April 17; Afeni Shakur, political activist and mother of the late Tupac Shakur, April 22; and poet laureate Robert Pinsky, May 2.