Kathleen Falk, who served with the United States Department of Health and Human Services under the Obama administration, will discuss “Environmental Injustice: The Flint Water Crisis” from 5:15 to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 12, in Chase Community Center at Vermont Law School. The lecture, which will open with a light reception, is free and open to the public and press and will be streamed live at vermontlaw.edu/live.
“We are pleased to have a person with such a depth of experience and commitment to social and environmental justice at Vermont Law School to discuss the implications of the Flint water crisis,” said Associate Dean David Mears, director of the Environmental Law Center at VLS. “Professor Falk’s talk will challenge us to examine the question of how to ensure that all citizens have access to clean drinking water, while also asking us to consider the broader question of how we ensure that our nation’s environmental policies do not tolerate or promote unjust and racist outcomes.”
Falk, the 2017 VLS Douglas Costle Visiting Professor of Law, teaches Communications, Advocacy, and Leadership and a seminar on Environmental Health Law. She is the former regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and special advisor and government-wide lead for human services for the Flint water crisis. As the lead in Flint appointed by the Obama administration, Falk managed a complicated set of politics across many levels of government and implemented new health policies and programs created for Flint-area residents. As the regional director serving the Great Lakes states, she implemented the administration’s agenda, including the Affordable Care Act. Falk also served for 14 years as the chief elected official in Dane County, Wisconsin. Among many accomplishments, she brought conflicting urban and rural stakeholders together to protect land and water and created cutting-edge energy and rural economic development.
For more information about Kathleen Falk’s lecture at VLS, email rmilaschewski@vermontlaw.edu or call 802-831-1287. For more information about environmental programs at VLS, including degrees and clinical training, visit the Environmental Law Center online at vermontlaw.edu/ELC.
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Vermont Law School, a private, independent institution, is home to the nation's largest and deepest environmental law program. VLS offers a Juris Doctor curriculum that emphasizes public service; three Master's Degrees—Master of Environmental Law and Policy, Master of Energy Regulation and Law, and Master of Food and Agriculture Law and Policy; and four post-JD degrees —LLM in American Legal Studies (for foreign-trained lawyers), LLM in Energy Law, LLM in Environmental Law, and LLM in Food and Agriculture Law. The school features innovative experiential programs and is home to the Environmental Law Center, South Royalton Legal Clinic, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic, Energy Clinic, Food and Agriculture Clinic, and Center for Applied Human Rights. For more information, visit vermontlaw.edu, find us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter and Instagram.