Labeled "one of America's leading political columnists," by www.cnn.com, Novak founded the nationally syndicated Inside Report, co-authored The Evans-Novak Political Report and recently published his newest book, Completing the Revolution: A Vision for Victory in 2000.
"With it being election year, there is no doubt that lots of Penn State students will come out to hear [Novak] speak," said Matt Midles, Distinguished Speakers Series Committee chair. "Recently he has been so
much more of a lightning rod than usual -- who knows how it will go."
Midles said Novak's speech will be open-ended.
"Because we don't ask him to talk about anything specific, his speech could go anywhere," he said. "We are expecting him to talk about being a journalist, to talk about taxes, the federal government and his views on the president."
Megan Green, College Democrats president, said she looks forward to Novak's visit.
"I haven't decided if I am going yet ... but I really like Novak -- I'm a pretty avid watcher of Crossfire. The show takes views from the left and the right and I just enjoy watching people debate," she said.
College Republicans President Andy Banducci also said he is looking forward to Novak's speech.
"I really respect Novak as a journalist; he is certainly one of the best conservative journalists out there," he said.
However, Banducci said he had reservations about the political leanings of the Distinguished Speakers Series and recent visitors to Penn State.
"As far as being on par with Howard Dean or some of the other Distinguished Speakers I, as a conservative, would have liked to see some bigger conservative names ... even though [Novak] is definitely one of the best conservative thinkers," Banducci said.
American politics professor Suzana DeBoef said she was happy Penn State allows many different opinions to be heard on campus through the series and other events.
"I think it's fantastic that these folks come through here and there are lots of opportunities for people of all political persuasions to go see people with similar or different views as them," she said.
Green also said Penn State gives many different views equal opportunity.
"I really like the Distinguished Speakers Series here at Penn State because they give students a pretty good balance of liberal and conservative -- we have [Howard] Dean coming later in the semester and it's great that Novak is coming too," Green said.
The Distinguished Speakers Series, sponsored by the University Park Allocation Committee, provides a forum for individuals, both nationally and internationally renowned, to speak to students on a variety of topics.
