Domestic policy

*Stream* David Brooks from The New York Times will be in conversation with presidential historian Ronald C. White to discuss character as a part of the Grand Valley State University's series on "Character and Presidency."

Vivian Thomson will offer an insider’s account of how power is wielded in environmental policy making at the state level. Drawing on her experience as a former member of Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board, she narrates cases in Alexandria, Wise, and Roda that involved coal and air pollution. She identifies a “climate of capitulation” —a deeply rooted favoritism toward coal and electric utilities in state air pollution policies. Thomson links Virginia’s climate of capitulation with campaign finance patterns, a state legislature that depends on outsiders for information and bill drafting, and a political culture that tends toward inertia. She extends her analysis to fifteen other coal states and recommends reforms aimed at mitigating ingrained biases toward coal and electric utility interests.

Join us for a book talk with Hendrik Meijer about Arthur Vandenberg, a Republican Senator from Grand Rapids, MI. The event is co-sponsored by the Bentley Library, Ford Library, and the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

Free and open to the public. Auditorium doors will open at 3:30 PM on March 19. This event will be live web-streamed; a link to the web-stream will be posted here on the day of the event at least 30 minutes prior to the start time.

Free and open to the public. Panelists: Thomas Buchmueller, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business John J. H. (Joe) Schwarz, Former U.S. Representative and Visiting Lecturer, University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy Marianne Udow-Phillips, Director, Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT), located at the University of Michigan Moderator: Matthew Davis, Associate Professor, University of Michigan Medical School and the Gerald R.

Richard Buery is President/CEO of The Children's Aid Society. Founded in 1853, CAS serves 80,000 children at 45 locations in New York City and Westchester, and its Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program and National Center for Community Schools serve thousands more nationally. Mr.

Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. About the lecture Compared with any other nation, the U.S. spends far more on medical care and seemingly gets far less in return than other nations (as measured by such things as infant mortality and longevity). We also have abundant evidence that much of our spending is wasteful, in the sense that regions within the U.S.

Free and open to the public. For more information call (734) 647-4091. Roland Fryer is the Robert M.

Panelists: John Gallagher, Director, Author, Writer, Detroit Free Press "Land Abandonment" Avis C. Vidal, Professor of Urban Planning, Department of Urban Studies & Planning, Wayne State University "Land Development" Moderator: Reynolds "Ren" Farley, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts University of Michigan Institute for Social Research

U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel is a Distinguished Professor at Georgetown University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is Chairman of the Atlantic Council and a Member of the Secretary of Defense's Defense Policy Board.