In addition to reading our newsletters, you may also want to visit our web site by clicking on the link below. We have a good deal of current information, and through the year we will be working on building up our archives from previous years.
Civitas home page

Updated Urban Studies Summer Calendar

As we are able to contact more resources for our summer Urban Studies Seminar, we are making changes in our schedule. Our calendar is advanced, but not finalized. You can access it through the first link below (NOTE: when you first get to the calendar, it will default to June, 2003. Please click the three arrows to the right of June, 2003 to advance to July, 2003.

Among our changes to the schedule are the following:

On the first day of the session (Monday, July 7), we will be meeting with Prof. Mark Tranel, Dir. of Public Policy Research Center at the University of Missouri -- St. Louis.

Dr. Tranel has done considerable work on the economic impact of sprawl including cost of bridges, sewer systems, land purchases, etc. He has advocated a concept called "smart growth." He can help us further utilize statistics in our analyses.

We have more information regarding our "Birds-eye View of St. Louis" (Tuesday, July 8). It will be a narrated tour of the St. Louis metropolitan area, viewing sections of the community from the top floors of tall buildings. Stops will be in downtown St. Louis, the Central West End, Clayton, and other areas with good vistas. Narration will be by Mara Perry, urban designer from H3 Studio and Kris Zapalak of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

On Thursday, July 17, we will meet with Dr. John Hoal, professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Washington University. He has a most intriguing interactive visual presentation which will help us all better understand the complexities of urban planning.

As further changes are made, we will keep you informed.

As mentioned before, we have information from last year's Urban Studies program available on our web site. The page can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article. When you get to the page, you can browse around for information and also go to the Application Form.

We want to remind you that the seminar will run for two weeks from 9:00 AM - 2:30 PM. Students will be paid a stipend for participating in the program. If you are interested, please go to the web site below. You can access the application form from there.
Link to Urban Studies Calendar
Link to Urban Studies Home Page

Thirty-one years ago today!

During these summer months (and perhaps into the school year), we will provide information and resources on various public issues. We will often follow that up with polls related to the topic.

It was thirty-one years ago today that four men broke into the Democratic National headquarters in the Watergate building in Washington, DC. An alert security guard caught them in the act and they were shortly arrested. At first, the White House called the event a "third-rate burglary." Due to some dogged reporting by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post as well as persistent probing by a variety of prosecutors, it was discovered that the event would actually lead to the impeachment and later resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

The event exposed an entire series of corrupt acts by the Nixon Administration. One might think that with the uncovering of these improprieties that future politicians would learn to "keep their noses clean." Such has not been the case. In both Republican and Democratic administrations, presidents and their underlings have broken numerous codes of laws and ethics. Honesty has become the exception rather than the rule.

We invite you to respond to our poll today and to join our new discussion forum on political corruption on our intranet site. Links to both of these are available at the bottom of this article.
Link to FBI Files on Watergate
Link to Watergate Timeline
Link to Encyclopedia Americana Entry for Watergate
Link to Comprehensive Watergate Website
Link to the Watergate Hotel's Website

Conference on Democratic Global Governance

The World Federalist Assoiciation of St. Louis is once again sponsoring a most interesting conference for college and high school students. From Nov. 6-9, 2003, students will gather at the Sheraton Braintree Hotel near Boston. The conference will focus on democratic principles and how the United Nations can further extend them around the world.

The trip is free for one student from the St. Louis area. The student will be selected on the basis of a 3-5 page typed essay. (Double-spaced) For further information click on the link below.

Link to conference information

Civitas Night at the Cardinals

On Wednesday, June 25, Civitas is sponsoring a "night at the ballpark." The Cardinals will play the latest version of the "Big Red Machine" -- the Cincinnati Reds. Can Albert, Edgar, Jimmy, J.D., Scott & Co. outslug Mr. Griffey, Jr., Adam Dunn, Austin Kearns, Aaron Boone, and their cast of cohorts? Join us at the ballpark to find out.

We will be leaving from the DeBaliviere MetroLink station at 6:00 PM and returning at 11:00 PM (or one- half hour after the conclusion of the game). You can access a map to the DeBalivere station by clicking on the event on our new interactive web-based calendar.

The ticket cost will be $10.00 per person (Civitas will pick up the different in actual cost). We ask that students and friends who want to attend please sign- up for the game on our web site. You can access the sign-up page by clicking on the link at the bottom of this story.

We hope to have a fine turnout and watch the Cardinals (who by the way are the "official team of the peace movement in the U.S.") engage in an exciting intra-division game.

Sign-up for Cardinal Game

New Survey -- Corruption in America
With our new MarketVolt newsletter, we can include more in-depth polls, with up to ten questions. Our basic question today is, "Which of the following best describes your view towards corruption in contemporary America?" You can click on the detailed poll with the survey link below and the one question survey with the "Link to Intranets Site" below.

Watergate/Corruption Survey

Link to Poll on Civitas Intranet Site

Previous Survey Results
Last week's question was, "Do you support continued spending for MetroLink expansion in the St. Louis area?" The results for the Intranets poll were 10 in favor, 2 opposed, and 1 not sure. In the MarketVolt survey all of the repondents were in favor of the expansion, although there were some conflicts as to which communities the MetroLink should serve.

About Civitas
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