Author: Jessica Roberts Martin

Washington University in St. Louis have announced a new partnership. Through events, publications and community projects, the Brown School and Pulitzer hope to explore how social work and the arts can interact in a meaningful way. The first public event of the partnership is a street festival at Grand Center from 6-9 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. The festival celebrates The Community Light Project (CLP), an initiative with the goal of bringing together people of all ages and interests around light, art, and community.

Charles W. Burson, former counsel to the Vice President and assistant to the President and Chief of Staff at The White House, and Ambassador Thomas Schweich, special representative for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, are the lead commentators for the Washington University School of Law’s Vice Presidential Debate Watch Party at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Student Commons of Anheuser-Busch Hall.

Washington University in St. Louis will host a University-wide Public Service Fair from 3-5 p.m. Tuesday, September 23. This event will feature more than 60 non-profit organizations seeking volunteers and interns for a variety of opportunities. Sponsored by the Gephardt Institute for Public Service and the Community Service Office, the fair marks the first time that community agencies will be gathered on campus to meet with interested students, faculty and staff.

The Missouri Court of Appeals Eastern District will hold a special session at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24, in the School of Law’s Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The public is invited to hear cases involving a dispute over the construction of a waste transfer facility, an invasion of privacy claim and an […]

Barbara Flagg, J.D., professor of law, has been named the John S. Lehmann Research Professor for 2008-09.

McBride”We are headed into a time when a confluence of changes are going to lead to a perfect storm, making us finally realize that our health care system needs a major overhaul,” says Timothy D. McBride, Ph.D., leading health economist and professor of social work. McBride is available to discuss candidates’ health care plans and universal health care.

McBride”The problems with Social Security can be solved easily compared to those of Medicare,” says Timothy McBride, leading health economist and associate dean for public health. “Social Security can be fixed right now, although most people don’t want to solve it with tax hikes. We cannot solve Medicare as easily. Medicare is in a serious crisis relative to Social Security,” he says. McBride is available to discuss Social Security and Medicare.

BernsteinAccess to affordable health care has been a recurring topic in current political discussions. Merton C. Bernstein, leading health insurance expert and law professor emeritus says that Medicare is the most practical platform for both extending coverage to everyone and taming medical cost inflation. He is available to discuss the candidates’ health care proposals.

“The problems with Social Security can be solved easily compared to those of Medicare,” says Timothy McBride, leading health economist and associate dean for public health at Washington University in St. Louis. “Social Security can be fixed right now, although most people don’t want to solve it with tax hikes. If passed today, a one-percentage point tax increase on both employers and employees could solve the Social Security problem for 75 years. If we don’t want to raise taxes, another option is to cut benefits by a similar amount and we’re done.” McBride says that the tax increase needed to fix Medicare would be six or seven percentage points in the long run. “We cannot solve Medicare as easily. Medicare is in a serious crisis relative to Social Security,” he says. McBride believes that as soon as the next President is elected “we will hear that we need to solve Medicare and Medicaid.”

Terry Smith, J.D., professor of law at Fordham University and nationally recognized expert on race and politics, will kick off the School of Law’s 11th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series with a talk on “Politics and Post-Racialism: Reflections on the Meaning of a Black President” September 23.