Friday December 8, 2017
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Dampeer Room
Kelvin Smith Library *
Case Western Reserve University
Dear Colleagues:
“Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
the ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
are full of passionate intensity.”
William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming,” 1919.
“Well I’m about to get sick,
from watchin’ my TV
Been checkin’ out the news
until my eyeballs fail to see
I mean to say that every day
is just another rotten mess
And when it’s gonna change my friend
is anybody’s guess.
So I’m watchin’ and I’m waitin’,
Hopin’ for the best,
Even think I’ll go to prayin’,
every time I hear ’em sayin’,
That there’s no way to delay
that trouble comin’ every day…”
Frank Zappa, “Trouble Comin’ Every Day,” 1965
As political scientists talk about polarization and norms of political behavior seem to be evaporating, it is easy to believe something unique is happening. Yet there have been other times in world and U.S. history when it seemed that the center could not hold, and every day brought new horrors. What might we learn about today by comparing to the last period of great upheaval and strife, the 1960s? I will make suggestions and we’ll see where the discussion goes.
A Special Note:
This is the last “Friday Lunch” discussion of 2017. I am grateful for the many kind speakers who have led discussions and all other participants. I would also like to thank Jessica Jurcak and Anna Conboy of the Political Science department office; our student program assistant Tim Shea, and Dr. Andrew Lucker for all their work to make these programs happen. I am very grateful to the Kelvin Smith Library and Administration for allowing us to use the Dampeer Room and facilitating our events. And I would like to thank both Dean Cyrus Taylor of the College of Arts and Sciences, who provides the major funding for these programs, and the participants who also kindly donate to help with the costs of our beverages and goodies.
We will begin again on January 19 of 2018, normally in the same spot at the same time. Our gatherings during “Spring” Semester will be a bit different for one reason: I will be on sabbatical and out of the country. Some participants have volunteered to moderate the sessions and I am working on a schedule of moderators. Anyone who would like to take on that role should please contact me, at joseph.white@case.edu. I am also working on the schedule of speakers (about half-done as of now, as you can see below). I will continue to draft the weekly newsletters, which Dr. Lucker will continue to send out. Please contact me with any suggestions about potential programs, or ideas about events that we should list on the newsletter sidebar.
Tim Shea will continue to assist the speakers with the A.V. system and make sure chairs and goodies are set out. The Friday Lunch worked well (I’m told) during my last sabbatical, and I hope it will run at least as well without me next semester. But please contact me if you have any questions or concerns!
And I hope everyone returns in January after a peaceful and joyous holiday season.
All best regards,
Joe White
Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy and Director, Center for Policy Studies
About Our Guest
As Director of the Center for Policy Studies, Joe White organizes and usually moderates the Friday Lunch discussions, as well as sponsoring 3-6 other public programs each year. His appointment as Luxenberg Family Professor of Public Policy is in the Department of Political Science, and he also has a secondary appointment as a Professor in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences. His research focuses on federal budget politics and policy; health care, especially cost control and reform; the politics of social insurance programs such as Medicare and Social Security; and differences between rich democracies’ health care systems. He is author or co-author of three books and about six dozen articles, with his most recent work being on relations between the president and Congress in federal budgeting and on budgeting for healthcare programs around the world.
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.
* Kelvin Smith Library requires all entrants to show identification when entering the building, unless they have a university i.d. that they can magnetically scan. We are sorry if that seems like a hassle, but it has been Library policy for a while in response to security concerns. Please do not complain to the library staff at the entrance, who are just doing their jobs.
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:
January 26: From Bill Clinton to Harvey Weinstein: The Limits of Social Discourse Around Sexual Assault. With Brian Clites Ph.D., Associate Director, Baker-Nord Center for the Humanities and Instructor, Department of Religious Studies
February 2: Health Care Education in a Rapidly Changing Landscape. With Jerold Goldberg D.D.S., Professor and Dean Emeritus, School of Dental Medicine.
February 16: Environmental Policy in the Pruitt EPA. With Catherine J. LaCroix J.D., Adjunct Professor of Law.
February 23: Gill v. Whitford: The Supreme Court and Partisan Redistricting. With Jonathan L. Entin J.D., David L. Brennan Professor Emeritus of Law and Adjunct Professor of Political Science
March 9: Law Enforcement and the Opioid Crisis. With Daniel Flannery Ph.D., Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor and Director, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences.
April 6: Income Inequality Among Seniors: At Home and Abroad. With Terry Hokenstad Ph.D.,Distinguished University Professor Emeritus and Ralph S. and Dorothy P. Schmitt Professor Emeritus, Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, and Emily Campbell M.A., Senior Fellow and Director of the Applied Research Team, Center for Community Solutions. |
