September
28, 2001
United
States Senator Arlen Specter to Speak at a Town Meeting
On the Campus of Lincoln University on Monday, October
1, 2001
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY -- Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania's senior
United States Senator, will visit Lincoln University on
Monday, October 1, 2001, to hold a Town Meeting at 1 p.m.
The 45-minute session, which will be held in Dickey Hall
Auditorium on the historic campus in southern Chester
County, will provide a forum for Senator Specter to discuss
a range of topics and answer questions from Lincoln students,
faculty, staff and campus visitors.
"We are pleased and honored that Senator Specter will
be holding a town meeting and speaking at the University,"
University President Ivory V. Nelson said.
"Senator Specter is providing our students with an invaluable
opportunity to supplement their classroom education with
this vital experience of interacting with a major political
figure. The Senator has served his constituents and country
for many years; he has firsthand knowledge of significant
national and world events; and he also has played a key
role in creating or strengthening many of our current
laws and programs."
Senator Specter, a Republican from Philadelphia, is the
ranking member on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee,
and is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee,
the Judiciary Committee, and the Government Affairs Committee.
In the 104th Congress, he chaired the Senate Intelligence
Committee. He is a legislative leader on education, health
care, crime, drugs and terrorism.
On, September 19, Senator Specter introduced legislation
to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to
the passengers and crew of hijacked United Airlines flight
93 that crashed on September 11 in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
As chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee overseeing
the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and
Education, Senator Specter led the fight to increase National
Institutes of Health (NIH) funding in the last four years
by more than $8 billion (currently at $20.3 billion) and
to provide $1.45 billion in fiscal year 2001 for programs
geared toward reducing the incidence of youth violence
under an action plan administered by the Surgeon General.
In 1991, Senator Specter helped to create a separate
Women's Health Unit at NIH. He also has co-sponsored key
domestic violence legislation, and chairs the newly created
Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight of the Department
of Justice, FBI and other federal agencies review of Chinese
espionage, campaign finance and Waco.
Senator Specter's Armed Career Criminal Act, signed into
law in 1984 and expanded in 1986, carries a mandatory
15-year prison sentence for a career criminal found carrying
a firearm, and has proven especially effective against
major drug traffickers. His death penalty legislation
streamlines the once-endless federal appeals process.
A former prosecutor and investigator, Senator Specter
led the Veterans Affairs Committee investigation in 1999
of Gulf War Illness (from possible exposure to chemical
weapons) and in 1995 led the investigation of the killings
at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, which prompted changes in FBI and
ATF policy.
In the only tangible legislative reform to come from
the Iran-Contra scandal, he was responsible in 1989 for
creating Inspectors General of the CIA, which in turn
exposed Soviet mole Aldrich Ames, assassinations in Guatemala,
and tainted Soviet materials passed to the President.
A fiscal conservative, Senator Specter has pressed for
the Balanced Budget Amendment and line-item veto, and
was the first to introduce a flat-tax bill to lower federal
taxes and simplify filing. He has also fought for assistance
to farmers and for relief efforts in the wake of droughts,
floods and the Avian Flu.
Arlen Specter began his public service career as an assistant
Philadelphia District Attorney. He was appointed to the
Warren Commission staff where he played a leading role
in investigating the assassination of President Kennedy.
During two terms as District Attorney, he helped restore
death penalty statutes in Pennsylvania, fought against
consumer fraud, cracked down on rape and other crimes
of violence, and relentlessly prosecuted corrupt public
officials.
He was born to immigrant parents in Wichita, Kansas,
and grew up in the small town of Russell, Kansas. He graduated
Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Pennsylvania, then
served stateside in the Air Force Office of Special Investigations
for two years. He graduated from Yale Law School, where
he was an editor of the law journal.
He lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Joan, a former
four-term Philadelphia City Councilwoman. They have two
sons and four grandchildren.
Founded in 1854 as America's first Historically Black
University, Lincoln University has been cited for its
high achievements. Lincoln University ranks:
