Mission Week Expert Describes Progress and Problems on Global Water Issues

Great progress has been since 1990 in making clean water available to hundreds of millions of people, but there remains great need to extend that progress to hundreds of millions more, a leading figure in such efforts said Thursday at Marquette Law School.

As part of Mission Week at Marquette University, Vanessa Tobin spoke with Mike Gousha, the Law School’s distinguished fellow in law and public policy, in an “On the Issues with Mike Gousha” program. Tobin is senior technical advisor for water supply, sanitation, and water resources for Catholic Relief Services. She worked for 24 years for UNICEF on dealing with these needs and others around the world before joining Catholic Relief Services in December, 2011.

Tobin said that for people in nations such as the United States or her native England, “we take our hygiene and sanitation for granted. . . . These are luxuries in many countries.” For about 750 million people, primarily low-income residents of  sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia, unpolluted water is not available and poor sanitary conditions affect the health of millions of people, particularly children five and under.

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Figure Skating and Law School

414px-2011_World_Figure_Skating_Championships_(12)Throughout my childhood, I have loved figure skating with a passion and vigor that rivals no other. Although I no longer compete, I enjoyed watching the United States Figure Skating Championship this past weekend because it demonstrated the hard work necessary to succeed. As a result, I now reflect on the valuable skills figure skating has taught me in relation to law school. Bear with me in my attempt to relate something I love with something I have a growing appreciation of. Here are just a few of the lessons I learned from this weekend:

  • Nerves and self-doubt can derail a great performance. Figure skaters train for years and on a daily basis for just minutes on the ice. Unfortunately, even the best training is futile when a skater encounters nerves that prevent them from performing to their best ability. I liken this to the hours of studying necessary to succeed on a three hour law school exam. If one succumbs to self-doubt on test day, then those hours of studying will not be reflected on the exam. It is necessary to believe in your abilities.
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Court of Appeals Upholds Dismissal of Sing-Along Citation

Woody_Guthrie_NYWTSToday the Wisconsin Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of a citation issued to a “solidarity singer,” one of the participants in the ongoing State Capitol Sing-a-Long in which the participants sing songs protesting Governor Walker’s policies.  The Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of the citation by the Circuit Court, agreeing with the lower court that the permitting policy instituted by the Walker Administration unconstitutionally infringes on the First Amendment rights of individuals and small groups to engage in protests in the Capitol Building.  The decision of the Court of Appeals can be read in its entirety here.  Today’s ruling is unsurprising.  I argued that an earlier version of the permitting policy was unconstitutional a little over three years ago, in a post on the Faculty Blog that can be read here.  Reading the flimsy legal arguments put forth by the State in defense of the policy before the Court of Appeals (and I do not use the word “flimsy” lightly), I remain baffled as to why the Walker Administration would spend so much time and money in pursuing a permitting policy that so obviously conflicts with established First Amendment precedent.  While the Walker Administration typically rushes to appeal contrary judicial rulings to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, confident of receiving a sympathetic hearing from that body, I suggest that they think long and hard before appealing today’s ruling.

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