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January 17, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Northampton Mayor to Address
All-College Meeting at Smith
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-It is an
historic-extremely rare, perhaps even a unique-occasion when
the mayor of Northampton speaks at a Smith College convocation.
But it's going to happen on Monday, Jan. 27, at 4:30 p.m. in
John M. Greene Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
Mayor Clare Higgins, now serving her second two-year term as
mayor, will be the speaker at the all-college meeting that opens
second semester 2002-03. And she's been thinking a lot about
what she wants to say. She says she'll share some thoughts that
have been on her mind recently about the meaning of the term
"commonwealth/common wealth"; she's not sure that
people really understand what it means to live in a commonwealth.
In her down-to-earth, sometimes irreverent, style, she'll talk
about the choices we all must make if we are truly to share collective
responsibility for our community-be it Smith, Northampton or
the larger "commonwealth."
Sound like a civics lesson? Higgins is just the person to give
one. A quintessential public servant, she served on the Northampton
city council from 1994-99; directed (and earlier taught in) Hampshire
Community Action Commission day care programs from 1977-1984
and 1992-1999; directed a comprehensive teen parent childcare
program from 1986-1991; and was responsible for coordinating
and staffing all organizing, negotiations, grievance handling,
steward training and legislative lobbying for the United Auto
Workers Union in western Massachusetts from 1983-1986.
Along with the mayor's talk, the all-college meeting will feature
a musical selection by the Smith College chorus, greetings from
several student leaders to new students and those returning from
a semester away and the presentation of the Elizabeth B. Wyandt
Gavel Award to an outstanding staff member.
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