Friday October 2, 2009
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Crawford Hall – Room 9
Inamori Center
Case Western Reserve University

Dear Colleagues,

It had happened before, and the nation hadn’t noticed. But, in 1969, Cleveland had a new, vigorous, black mayor, Carl Stokes, who was a national story. National media were covering him, he wanted to solve long-neglected problems, and the coverage has been credited for helping to define the water pollution problem in a way that led to the Clean Water Act of 1972.

It also defined Cleveland’s image for a generation, which was not such a positive effect.

But, after nearly forty years of work, plus the consequences of deindustrialization, the Cuyahoga is now clean enough that local and state officials have petitioned federal EPA officials to de-list the upper Cuyahoga as having impairments to fish health. In August, freshwater mussels were found in the lower Cuyahoga for the first time in more than fifty years.

The Plain Dealer is providing special coverage for this, the “year of the river.” Join reporter Mike Scott for a discussion of the river’s past, present, and future.

We will be meeting in a different location next week. (Baker-Nord Room, 206 Clark Hall) There will be no parking in the visitors lot next to Crawford Hall on October 9th.

As usual, we will gather in Room 9 of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, on the lower level of Crawford Hall, for free cookies, beverages, and brown bag lunch.

Best regards,
Joe White

About Our Guest

Michael Scott, 46, lives in rural Geauga County, Ohio, about 25 miles east of Cleveland, with his wife Sharon – and often with at least one of his four adult children (and their pets) who still use the family homestead as a stopping point as they either finish college or move between jobs. Now a reporter covering environmental issues for The Plain Dealer, Ohio’s largest daily newspaper, he had worked since 1999 as a news and feature reporter in one of the papers suburban bureaus. Previously, he was the Metro Editor for smaller dailies near Youngstown and Chardon, Ohio, after starting his journalism career covering sports and local politics throughout Northeast Ohio. Mike and his wife also work with teenagers and a music ministry at a local church.

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

October 9: ***Special Location – Clark Hall Room 206, the Baker-Nord Center Seminar Room*** Bush, Barack, and the Meltdown. With Kathryn C. Lavelle, Ellen and Dixon Long Associate Professor of World Affairs.

October 16: Virtue, Vice, and Contraband: The History of Contraception in America. With James M. Edmonson, Curator, Dittrick Medical History Center and Museum

October 23: Reforming Cuyahoga County Government. Speakers TBA

October 30: The University’s “Internationalization” Initiative. With David Fleshler, Associate Provost for International Affairs

November 6: Unhealthy Claims About “Healthy” Foods. With Hope Barkoukis, Associate Professor of Nutrition

November 13: What Should the Common Reading for New Students Do? With Mano Singham, Director, University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education and Mayo Bulloch, Director, Educational Enhancement Programs at Case Western Reserve University

November 20: Chesapeake Bay and the Need for Dark Green Environmentalism. With Howard R. Ernst, Associate Professor of Political Science, U.S. Naval Academy

November 27: Thanksgiving Break

December 4: What the Health Care Reform Legislation Will Do, or Why Health Care Reform Failed, or Health Care Reform: What Next? or All of the Above. With Joe White, Professor of Political Science

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.