BUMPERS' FIRST PUBLIC POLICY FORUM SET FOR JANUARY 14

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Recently retired U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers will serve as Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the University of Arkansas this winter and spring.

Senator Bumpers will give a series of public lectures and also will be offering classroom lectures in an innovative new course structure that will bring together students from both the Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences and the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

The first public forum on "The U.S. Constitution - A Primer" will be at 2 p.m., Thursday, January 14 in Old Main's Giffels Auditorium.

Subsequent forums, all scheduled for 2 p.m. in Giffels, will feature the following topics:

January 28: de Tocqueville's Democracy in America" and "Enlightened Self-Interest."

Feb. 11: Campaign finance. Is it really a First Amendment right? Or is it legal corruption?

Feb. 25: Divided Government: good, bad, or somewhere in between? Would a parliamentary system be better?

March 11: Global Problems: Economy, global warming, population growth, the oceans. Is global cooperation possible?

March 25: Government Regulation and the Environment. How do we know when it's necessary and when it's bureaucratic overkill?

April 8: Political Decisions on Medical Research - Cloning, Animal Tissues in Humans (Xenografts), Fetal Research

April 22. Defense - How much is enough? Enough for what?

On alternate Thursdays, Bumpers will address students from two separate courses, who will meet together for discussion of these policy issues.

As part of the interdisciplinary aspect of series, students will have the added benefit of classroom discussion on Bumper’s topics through lectures led by professors of both colleges. Conrad Waligorski, Professor of Political Science in Fulbright College, will be teaching an Honors Colloquium "Issues in Public Policy," and Eric Wailes, Professor of Agricultural Economics in Bumpers College, will be teaching a colloquium titled "Agricultural Policy and Issues."

First elected to the U. S. Senate in 1974, Bumpers retired from the Senate in December 1998 after serving his fourth term as a Democratic Senator from Arkansas. When he was re-elected in 1992, he won more than 60 percent of the vote.

Before joining the U.S. Senate, Bumpers served two terms as Governor of Arkansas, where he reorganized state government by trimming the number of agencies from 69 to 13, doubled the number of state parks; started the State Kindergarten Program, and launched an initiative to double the number of doctors trained at Arkansas' only medical school.

Before entering politics, Bumpers lived in his home town of Charleston, where he practiced law; operated a small hardware, furniture, and appliance store; raised cattle; and pursued several other business interests. During those years, Bumpers was also active in community affairs, serving as city attorney, school board president, and president of the Chamber of Commerce.

After serving in the U. S. Marine Corps for three years during World War II, Senator Bumpers returned to continue his undergraduate work at the University of Arkansas, and later received his law degree from Northwestern University.

Bumpers is married to the former Betty Flanagan of Charleston. They are the parents of three children, Brent, Bill, and Brooke, and they have three grandsons, and two granddaughters.

Bumpers has received numerous awards and honors. In April 1996, as a result of his tireless efforts on behalf of research projects for the University of Arkansas, the University's Board of Trustees renamed the College of Agriculture the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences.

In a poll of Senate staffers conducted by The Hill newspaper in 1994, he was chosen as the second best-liked Democratic Senator, just behind the Majority Leader. Bumpers is widely recognized for his gift of public speaking. The respected political weekly National Journal has called him a Senator to whom "other Senators pay attention."

Bumpers has been named one of the 10 best U. S. Senators in a poll of Washington correspondents, and was chosen as the top Senate orator in a USA Today poll of Senate press secretaries.

Bumpers received the 1993 Medal of the Society award from the National Park Foundation for his commitment to scenic and historic preservation. He also was awarded the 1993 Dream Award from the National Association of Home Builders for his support of rural housing and tax credits for first-time home buyers.

During his Senate career, Bumpers established himself as a champion of the taxpayer and a foe of government waste. He began the fight for a balanced budget long before it became a publicized national issue. He led the successful battle to cancel the $12 billion Superconducting Super Collider, and fought to eliminate Star Wars. For nine years, Senator Bumpers sought

to stop the giveaway of America's public lands. Since 1872, mining interests, many of them foreign-owned, have paid as little as $2.50 an acre for mineral-rich public lands and extracted billions of dollars worth of old, silver and platinum while paying not a penny in royalties to American taxpayers.

A student of history with a profound respect for the ideals and vision of he country's founders and a healthy skepticism of passing fads in economic and social theory, Senator Bumpers is hesitant to change the Constitution, which he calls a "sacred document." As a Senator from a rural state and the op ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on agriculture, Dale Bumpers worked to protect family farmers, expand rural housing, and promote rural development.

In January 1997 Bumpers became the highest ranking Democratic member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and in 1998 introduced the first comprehensive legislation of the 105th Congress to deregulate the electricity industry, which could save consumers billions of dollars. Also, e sat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and was a member of

the Small Business Committee.

Nine wilderness areas in Arkansas established in 1984 were dedicated to Bumpers in October 1998, in recognition of his leadership and outstanding contributions to the designation of wilderness areas in Arkansas and across the nation.

Bumpers was the chief sponsor of the 1984 law that established those Arkansas wilderness areas.

The areas encompass about 91,000 acres in the Ozark and Ouachita National forests. These nine areas represent some of the most outstanding natural beauty in the state and provide permanent protection for watersheds, wildlife habitats, and a variety of scenic and historical resources.

In December of 1998, he announced that he was donating his public papers to he University of Arkansas Libraries in Fayetteville upon his departure rom office in January.

"I am proud that the University of Arkansas has accepted these documents, which provide a record of my 24 years in the U.S. Senate. I hope they tell story of someone who tried to do what was right for his state, his country, and his conscience," said Bumpers.

The collection of papers spans Bumpers' entire career as a U.S. Senator rom 1974 to 1998. The material includes 1,500 linear feet of letters, memoranda, legislative files, photographs, videotapes, sound recordings, printed matter and memorabilia.

The Bumpers collection will join those of former senators Joe T. Robinson, Hattie Caraway, J. William Fulbright, and most recently, David Pryor. Together, these Senators represented the state and citizens of Arkansas for most of the twentieth century.

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