Former California Governor and current Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown will speak at UC Riverside at 10 a.m. Saturday, January 11 in a wide-ranging public forum on the question "Do Our Cities Have a Future?"

Brown's talk in the University Theatre will be followed by a panel discussion with UC Riverside faculty, Georgia Warnke (Philosophy), Max Neiman (Political Science), and Ann Goldberg (History); Riverside County Supervisor Tom Mullen; and members of the audience.

Brown's talk is hosted by Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge, a faculty member at UC Riverside. It is co-sponsored by United Campus Ministry and several academic departments at UC Riverside, including Religious Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, African Students Programs and Chicano Student Programs.

"We wanted to generate discussion about the plight of our cities in California, given the exponential population growth predicted for the next thirty years," said Terry Mathis, director of United Campus Ministry, an ecumenical/interfaith group that works with other faiths represented on campus.

Mathis said Jerry Brown brings a unique perspective on the just distribution of wealth and how to build a city while still helping the poor and oppressed. "It's a secular concern as well as the concern of many religious groups," he said.

Parking is $5. Signs will be posted directing traffic to Lot 6 and to the University Theatre.

For more information, contact Dr. Terry Mathis at 334-1859 (trmath@earthlink.net) or Dr. Rob Garáfalo at 233-1513.

The University of California, Riverside offers undergraduate and graduate education to nearly 16,000 students and has a projected enrollment of 21,000 students by 2010. It is the fastest growing and most ethnically diverse campus of the preeminent ten-campus University of California system, the largest public research university system in the world. The picturesque 1,200-acre campus is located at the foot of the Box Springs Mountains near downtown Riverside in Southern California. More information about UC Riverside is available at www.ucr.edu or by calling 909-787-5185. For a listing of faculty experts on a variety of topics, please visit http://mmr.ucr.edu/experts/.

Biography

Edmund G. Brown Jr., known as Jerry, was born in San Francisco on April 7, 1938. He received his B.A. degree in classics from the University of California at Berkeley in 1961, and graduated from Yale Law School in 1964.

In 1969 Brown was elected to the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees. In 1970, he was elected California Secretary of State. Four years later, he was elected Governor. He was reelected in 1978.

As governor, Brown presided over a state where 25% of the nation's new jobs were created. He established the first agricultural labor relations law in the country, started the California Conservation Corp (CCC), enacted into permanent law the California Coastal Protection Act, successfully pushed for the country's first building and appliance energy efficiency standards and made California the leader in solar and alternative energy. He appointed an extraordinary number of women and minorities to high government positions, including the first woman, African-American and Latino to the California Supreme Court. Brown also legalized the practice of Acupuncture and strongly supported the rights of chiropractors, osteopaths and lay midwives.

After leaving the Governor's Office, Brown spent six months in Japan and worked briefly with Mother Teresa in India. He practiced law in Los Angeles and in 1989 became chairman of the state Democratic Party.

He resigned that position in 1991, expressing his disgust with the growing influence of money in politics, and sought the 1992 Democratic Presidential nomination. During that campaign he refused to take contributions larger than $100 and used an ''800" number to raise funds.

Brown defeated Bill Clinton in Maine, Colorado, Vermont, Connecticut, Utah and Nevada during the 1992 Presidential primaries and was the only candidate other than Clinton to receive enough voter support to continue until the Democratic National Convention.

Brown was elected Mayor of Oakland, California in June, 1998, gaining 59 percent of the vote. In 2002, he was elected to a second term. His central focus as Mayor has been to revitalize the center of the city in a spirit of "elegant density." He has also opened two new charter schools, one involving the performing arts and the other, a military academy.

Information from: http://www.oaklandnet.com/government/mayor/biography.html