Former President Clinton To Come To La Jolla For UCSD Conference

The annual Clinton Global Initiative University conference will be held at UC San Diego next month. University officials announced earlier this week the location of the conference that will bring former President Bill Clinton and actor Sean Penn to the La Jolla campus.

Speakers will include actress and singer Mandy Moore, California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom and UC San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. In past years, actors Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman have attended.

The free event will take place April 1 to 3 and is set to bring more than 1,000 conference participants focused on creating and implementing innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges including environmentalism, college affordability, LGBT issues, human rights, poverty, urbanization and efforts to reach at-risk youth.

“It is a great experience for our students and it brings great visibility to our campus,” said Gary Ratcliff, assistant vice chancellor for student life, in a statement.

Tickets for the event were released March 7 at 10 a.m. on a first-come, first-serve basis at the UC San Diego Box office. Hundreds of students waited in line Monday morning. No more tickets are available.

A total of 200 students have been admitted to take part in the three-day event. Each of these students had to propose a public-service project. Another 250 students can volunteer.

“These are students who are really motivated to change the world and make it a better place,” added Ratcliff in a university release.

Participating countries in the Clinton Global Initiative include Haiti, Kosovo, Pakistan and Uganda.

In the past six years, the Clinton Global Initiative has secured more than $1.3 million; reached more than 74,000 students and faculty with educational efforts and outreach about clean energy and sustainability; and placed more than 3,800 new recycling containers on college campuses and throughout neighboring communities.

Since it was established in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative has brought together nearly 150 current and former heads of state, 15 Nobel Prize laureates, hundreds of leading CEOs and major philanthropists, in addition to some of Hollywood’s humanitarians.