This Week at Wake Forest

Beverly Sills to Speak at Opening Convocation

Opera legend Beverly Sills, one of America’s most prominent advocates for the arts, will speak at Wake Forest University’s opening convocation Tuesday, Sept. 24. Sills, chairwoman of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, will address “The State of the Arts” at 11 a.m. in Wait Chapel. Admission is free and open to the public. The event marks the beginning of Wake Forest’s Year of the Arts, a year-long celebration of the arts including concerts, a symposium, visiting artists and numerous other special events.

A Tobacco Road to the White House

President Clinton’s proposed FDA regulations on tobacco put the golden leaf squarely in the middle of election-year politics for both parties in the nation’s leading tobacco-growing state. Jack Fleer, chairman of the Wake Forest politics department, says that Republicans must press their attacks on the Clinton administration and intrusive government regulation without appearing insensitive to efforts to curb underage smoking, which enjoy broad support. Democrats must convince the state’s voters that a compromise on tobacco can reduce teen-age use and still maintain a healthy economy and jobs.

Independent Counsel and Partisan Politics

“it is always the case that when the independent counsel operates in an election year, there is a public perception of partisanship,” says Katy Harriger, Wake Forest professor of politics. Author of the book, “Independent Justice: The Federal Special Prosecutor in American Politics,” Harriger says Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr is experiencing the same partisan accusations as independent counsels in the Iran-Contra and Watergate investigations during election years. Starr’s problems are heightened because of questions raised about his objectivity from the beginning, she says. Will the Whitewater investigation affect the outcome of the election in November? Harriger says probably not. “Most people have already made up their minds whether Whitewater matters.”