Bill Nye the Science Guy almost didn’t get approved as a lecturer before the semester ended.

But he did, and there’s a kicker with the new University Board proposal: Eastern students won’t have to pay for tickets.

Only seven voting members were present at the Apportionment Board at 7 p.m. Thursday, which was not enough to form a quorum necessary to hold a meeting. Drew McClarity was excused as absent, however. Travis Bounds, Kayla Napue and Dr. Karen Gaines were not present as well.

AB Chair Leah Pietraszewski called McClarity to see if he could come despite being excused and busy with work. McClarity came to the meeting several minutes after being called and the Apportionment Board was called to order.

Every AB member present knew exactly what was on the agenda. At last week’s meeting, UB presented its plans to bring Bill Nye, a former TV show host and comedian, to Eastern as a spring lecturer.

UB was bringing its updated proposal to bring Nye to Eastern – a proposal that would ask for more money than the previous proposal last week.

The old proposed cost of bringing Bill Nye, in addition to transportation and equipment for the speaker, was an additional allocation of $29,758.

Last week UB proposed it charge Eastern students for tickets to the event to help pay for the significantly larger contracting cost. Previous speakers at Eastern like Jodie Sweetin and Kari Bryon cost roughly $10,000 and $8,000, respectively.

Including this and using the rest of its Lectures budget, UB’s old proposed cost would be $17,870.

That’s if Eastern students were charged $5 and the general public charged $10 for tickets, and only if the lecture sold at least 900 tickets to save $5,000.

AB’s vote approved the full $29,758 additional allocation 8-0 with no discussion. AB adviser Ted Hart said the discussion last week was very good and covered all the concerns they had ahead of time.

While Eastern students will not have to pay for the lecture, community members will have to pay for admission.

Charleston and Mattoon students will receive a discount on ticket sales for $3 each, and the general public will be charged $5 for tickets.

Revenue collected from ticket sales will be sent back to AB.

Students will still need to sign up for tickets so they can have their seats reserved in McAfee Gymnasium.

Student Senate will now have to approve the additional allocation next semester.

University Board plans to bring Bill Nye to Eastern on April 1.