Guinness World Record Attempt At Longest College Lecture Underway At UNT
DENTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) – The attempt to set the Guinness World Record for longest continuous college lecture began at 8:00 am Friday at the University of North Texas.
UNT Associate Professor of history, Dr. Andrew Torget received a heartfelt introduction by his own son and daughter before the clocks were set and they began ticking.
Dr. Torget is hoping to set the record by teaching a 30-hour Texas history course that would typically take him 14 weeks.
"We're covering all of Texas history. Which is to say we are starting with cave people and coming up to last week," he said.
The record attempt comes with ruled according to Dr. Torget who said, "Guinness has witnesses here who are going to be observing the students to make sure that they are not just awake but engaged."
In addition the rules include mandating 10 students are present at all times, aside from those watching the live stream online.
There are no cell phones allowed, and every hour of lecture earns Torget a five-minute break.
Dr. Torget said he and volunteers have been training for this for more than a year.
While they have plenty of snack and coffee to help get them through even he knows fatigue will set in at some point.
"I think that's going to happen here at some point. There is just going to be a wall, and you just have to decide to keep going forward."
While the record attempt is drawing in a lot of attention, Dr. Torget says the main reason for the event is to help raise money for the Portal of Texas History an online resources with archives and information on history in the Lone Star State.
The 30-hour mark is expected to be reached by 2:00 p.m. Saturday.