Environmental activist, author, chief prosecuting attorney for the
Hudson Riverkeeper and senior attorney for the Natural Resources
Defense Council.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the Kaplan Family Distinguished Lecture in Public
Service, April 23, 2003 at Cornell University.
Kennedy's talk, titled “Our Environmental Destiny,” will focus on the link between
environmental and social activism and the role the academic community can play
in educating citizens on the skills, knowledge and civic ethos needed to work
actively for an equitable and sustainable society. The lecture is scheduled for
5 p.m. in the David L. Call Alumni Auditorium of Kennedy Hall, and it is free
and open to the public. However, tickets are required, They will be available
in early April from the Willard Straight Hall ticket office, on campus. The Kaplan
Family Distinguished Lecture in Public Service was created from a gift to the
university from Cornell alumna Barbara Kaplan '59, her husband Leslie Kaplan,
son Douglas Kaplan '88, and daughter Emily Kaplan '91, in recognition of the importance
of the national movement in higher education for greater involvement in civic
engagement. Kennedy will serve as the inaugural lecturer.
Continuing his family’s activist legacy, Kennedy has gained a reputation as a
resolute defender of the environment stemming from a litany of successful legal
actions: prosecuting governments and companies for polluting the Hudson River
and Long Island Sound; winning settlements for the Hudson Riverkeeper – an advocacy
group that monitors the Hudson River ecosystem and challenges polluters, using
both legal and grassroots campaigns; arguing cases to expand citizen access to
the shoreline; and assisting several indigenous tribes in Latin America and Canada
in successfully negotiating treaties protecting their traditional homelands..
He also is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply.
The watershed agreement he negotiated is considered an international model in
stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development. Kennedy is the
author of several books, the most recent of which is The Riverkeepers (1997),
written with fellow Hudson River activist John Cronin. He is a graduate of Harvard
University, studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree
from the University of Virginia Law School. He also received a master’s degree
in environmental law from the Pace University School of Law.
The Kaplan Family Endowment for Public Service, a gift to Cornell from the Kaplans
in 2001, supports, through the Cornell Public Service Center, both the annual
lecture series and the Kaplan Family Distinguished Faculty Fellowship in Service-Learning,
which will be presented this year at a special dinner following Kennedy's lecture.
Two annual $5,000 awards were established for faculty scholars seeking to create
or expand innovative service-learning projects that actively involve Cornell students
in community-based learning, research and outreach efforts.
“The Kaplan family's support is vital for the fostering of the Cornell Public
Service Center's mission, which speaks of education for democratic citizenship
and the overall land-grant mission of the university,” said Leonardo Vargas-Méndez,
executive director of the center. “The Kaplan Family Lecture on Public Service
help us to bring attention to fundamental issues and policies affecting communities
and the larger society, while asserting the historical role and commitment of
universities, and Cornell in particular, in aiding citizens to bring about positive
social change for the betterment of everyone. The Kaplan Family Distinguished
Faculty Fellowship in Service Learning, on the other hand, aims to further develop
the connection between the academic curriculum and the work of communities by
recognizing faculty who are exemplary in integrating their pedagogical and research
practices with democratic action in the community.”
The annual Kaplan lecturer is chosen by a committee that includes: Cornell’s
vice president for student and academic services, the director of the Public Service
Center, members of the Kaplan family , the vice provost for land-grant affairs,
the faculty coordinator for the Faculty Fellows in Service program and a Cornell
student.
Past Lectures
