News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental attorney and author who is senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, will give a lecture on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus on April 20.

The 7:30 p.m. lecture, "A Contract With Our Future," is the 2005 Robert and Helen Siler Distinguished Lecture. The location will be the Cobb Theatre in UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History. A signing will follow the event.

Although the lecture is free to the public, a large turnout is expected and those wishing to attend are requested to make a reservation by calling (919) 966-9922.

The 2005 Robert and Helen Siler Distinguished Lecture is co-sponsored by UNC’s Student Congress, Carolina Environmental Program, James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence in Graham Memorial and Campus Y.

Kennedy, recognized as a resolute defender of the environment, is best known for his success in helping, as chief prosecuting attorney, Hudson Riverkeeper Inc. restore the Hudson River. Time magazine included him in its "Heroes for the Planet" for this work on this issue. In addition, he helped negotiate the New York City watershed agreement, on behalf of environmentalists and New York City watershed consumers; this is regarded as an international model in stakeholder consensus negotiations and sustainable development.

In addition to his work with NRDC, the Waterkeeper Alliance and Riverkeeper, he is a clinical professor and supervising attorney at the Pace Environmental Litigation Clinic at Pace University School of Law in New York.

Kennedy, a Harvard University graduate, studied at the London School of Economics and received his law degree from the University of Virginia. He also has a master’s degree in environmental law from Pace University. His books include "Crimes Against Nature" (2004) and "The Riverkeepers" (with John Cronin, 1997).

The Robert and Helen Siler Distinguished Lecture, administered by the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ department of city and regional planning, was established by Bob and Helen Siler of Hilton Head Island, S.C. Bob Siler received his bachelor of arts degree in 1953 and his master of regional planning degree in 1955, both from UNC.

The lectureship is intended to build a bridge between the academic city and regional planning community and professionals in the field by bringing leading urban planning figures to the UNC campus as Siler Lecturers.

The department of city and regional planning, a part of the College of Arts and Sciences, was founded in 1946 to demonstrate the practical application of social science methods to problems of government and the interdisciplinary union of social science, design and engineering. The department offers a doctorate in planning, a master of regional planning degree with five dual degree programs and several certificate programs, and an undergraduate minor in urban studies and planning.

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Note: For a photo of Kennedy, go to http://www.unc.edu/news/pics/event/lecture/kennedy.jpg

UNC department of city and regional planning contact: Udo Reisinger, (919) 962-4782 or udo@unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu