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Proposed changes to Social Security to be topic of free, public forum at Illinois
Craig Chamberlain,
News Editor
217-333-2894; cdchambe@illinois.edu
2/14/2005
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. —
Changes to Social Security being proposed by President Bush will be
the topic of a forum on Feb. 23 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,
featuring a former Clinton administration economist, along with Illinois
professors of finance, law and history.
The forum,
set for 7 p.m. on the third floor of the Levis Faculty Center, 919 W.
Illinois St., Urbana, is the latest in an occasional series on critical
public issues sponsored by the university’s Center for Advanced
Studies. Topics in recent years have included civil liberty and national
security, and stem cell research.
The event is free and open to the public.
Among the panel participants will be William Spriggs, an economist who
recently joined the Economic Policy Institute as a senior research fellow.
In 1993, he joined the Clinton administration to lead the staff of the
National Commission for Employment Policy, then held positions with
the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the U.S. Department
of Commerce and the Small Business Administration. In 1998 he left the
government to head the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity
and Equality.
Other participants:
• Jeffrey Brown, professor of finance,
who served from 2001 to 2002 as a senior economist at the White House
Council of Economic Advisers, with Social Security and pension reform
among his primary areas of focus. During 2001, he also served on the
staff of the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security.
• Richard Kaplan, the Peer and Sarah Pedersen Professor of Law,
an expert on taxation, tax policy and elder law. In 2002, he was a delegate
to the National Summit on Retirement Savings, organized by the U.S.
Department of Labor.
• Mark Leff, a professor of history,
who specializes in 20th century public policy and has written about
the New Deal period and the history of Social Security.
The organizers of the forum hope to provoke a discussion about the future
of Social Security, with attention to the fact that the baby boom generation
will begin to retire in about five years. Topics of discussion may include
questions of social rights and intergenerational responsibilities, arguments
for and against partial privatization, and how potential changes will
impact women and minorities, as well as the population as a whole.
The forum will begin with brief remarks from the panelists, followed
by audience questions.
