Mary Romero, Ph.D. – Professor of Justice Studies and Social Inquiry, Arizona State University

Renee Sentilles, Ph.D. – Associate Professor of History at Case Western Reserve University

Joseph White, Ph.D. – Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy, Department of Political Science at Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues:

For the Friday Lunch this week, we are taking advantage of the visit to campus, as ACES+ Distinguished Lecturer, of Professor Mary Romero of Arizona State University. One of Professor Romero’s lines of research involves discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities in the United States, and the effects of campaigns against illegal immigration in particular.

Lady Liberty, according to the poem at her base, is the “Mother of Exiles,” greeting the “huddled masses, yearning to breathe free.” The United States, however, has alternated welcome and rejection, with certain groups at any time being especially unwelcome. Anti-immigrant movements always raise fears that immigrants will not know how to be good American citizens. And, as Professor Romero argues, campaigns against immigration can shade into discrimination against citizens who look like the feared immigrants.

But is there is a vision of citizenship that can thrive with porous borders? An approach to enforcement that can avoid discrimination? Do the Americans who yearn for Donald Trump’s “Great, Great Wall” and those who support President Obama’s “Dream Act” even have the same vision of America, and citizenship? We have asked Professor Romero to introduce her own perspective on citizenship issues at present but, to widen the discussion and perhaps pose more issues, she will be joined by two of our own faculty, who bring their own different perspectives to the topic. We hope the result will be a lively discussion that will illuminate aspects of the current politics of immigration and social diversity which can help us understand the nation’s divisions.

Professor Romero’s visit is co-sponsored by ACES+, the Women’s and Gender studies Program, the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women, the Ethnic Studies Program, the Inamori Center for Ethics and Excellence, the Social Justice Institute, the Center for Policy Studies, the School of Law, and the Department of Sociology.

All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies 

About Our Guests

Mary Romero is Professor of Justice Studies and Social Inquiry at Arizona State University and Affiliate of Women and Gender Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies and African and African American Studies. In 2009 she received the American Sociological Association Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Founders’ Award. In 2004 Professor Romero received the Society for the Study of Social Problems Lee Founders’ Award for her career of activist scholarship. In 2000-01 she held a Pew National Fellowship of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Her research also includes writings on social inequalities and justice that incorporate the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and citizenship and links the parallels between domestic gendered race relations and immigration and identifies the continuum between racism against citizens and racism against non-citizens.

Renee Sentilles specializes in nineteenth-century cultural history, American women’s history, the history of childhood, girlhood studies, gender studies, and the American West. She teaches a wide range of courses in American history, including women’s history, western history, history of childhood, gender and sexuality, major books, nineteenth-century America, and biography.

Aside from serving as moderator for the Friday Public Affairs Lunch discussions and holding the official positions listed above, Joe White has a secondary appointment as Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. He teaches courses in U.S. politics including the presidency and interest groups, and public policy including the policy-making process, health care politics and policy, and the federal budget.

Where We Meet

The Friday Public Affairs Lunch convenes each Friday when classes are in session, from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Our programs are open to all and no registration is required. We usually meet in the Dampeer Room of Kelvin Smith Library. The Dampeer Room is on the second floor of the library. If you get off the elevators, turn right, pass the first bank of tables, and turn right again. Occasionally we need to use a different room; that will always be announced in the weekly e-mails.

Parking Possibilities

The most convenient parking is the lot underneath Severance Hall. We regret that it is not free. From that lot there is an elevator up to street level (labeled as for the Thwing Center); it is less than 50 yards from that exit to the library entrance. You can get from the Severance garage to the library without going outside. Near the entry gates – just to the right if you were driving out – there is a door into a corridor. Walk down the corridor and there will be another door. Beyond that door you’ll find the entrance to an elevator which goes up to an entrance right inside the doors to Kelvin Smith Library.

Schedule of Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

April 15: Money, Happiness, and Redistribution. With David Clingingsmith, Associate Professor of Economics. ***Alternate Location: Baker-Nord Center, Room 206, Clark Hall***

April 22: The Obama Administration and the Future of U.S. Manufacturing. With Susan Helper, Frank Tracy Carlton Professor of Economics and, former Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Commerce.