Because of scheduling conflicts and circumstances beyond both Eastern and the University Board’s control, Nev Schulman’s appearance has been rescheduled for Oct. 28.

Ceci Brinker, director of student life, said Schulman’s lecture, originally scheduled for Thursday, was canceled due to the taping of MTV’s “Catfish.”

“UB Ideas-Issues received word early last week from Nev’s agency representative we booked him through that due to a scheduling conflict with the taping of Nev’s MTV show for this fall, Nev had to cancel his appearance date at EIU on October 16th.”

Brinker said Eastern and UB worked as hard as they could to reschedule the appearance.

“UB exhausted every measure in trying to make a case to retain his appearance date, since we were only a week away from his appearance at EIU, to no avail,” she said. “His TV show taping takes precedence.”

The agency UB worked with to reschedule the event originally offered two dates, Oct. 9 and Oct. 25, which Eastern and UB declined. The ninth was viewed as too soon and too short of notice, and the 25th was declined because it would occur during homecoming week.

Despite conflicts with those two dates, UB further inquired alternative dates to reschedule Schulman’s appearance because of the high amount of interest and appeal to students.

Brinker said it is not unusual for celebrity appearances to be canceled on such short notice. In fact, this is not the first time it has happened at Eastern.

“A similar situation happened to UB in 2008 when UB contracted the “Science Guy” who also canceled because of a conflict with a TV appearance on the CBS Morning News.”

In Schulman’s case, the taping of “Catfish” was moved up to be filmed one week early than planned.

Although Schulman’s original appearance was coordinated with Bullying Awareness Month, a replacement speaker will not be made.

“At this time, the contract and event schedule for October 16^th are official canceled, as UB is now committed to focusing its attention on the rescheduled date of October 28^th,” Brinker said.

Schulman will now present his viewpoints on social media and online relationships at 7 p.m. Oct. 28th at McAfee Gym. The event will feature a Q-and-A session, book signing and meet and greet.

Tickets for the event are $5 for students and $8 for the general public. Special tickets including meet-and-greet passes and special seating are $10. Tickets can be purchased at the University Union Box Office.

Samantha Middendorf can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].