DeKALB – Former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator and Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman will be the next virtual guest in the Rebuilding Democracy Lecture Series hosted by NIU’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Whittman will speak at 6 p.m. Thursday on Zoom.
Students interested in attending can request a link ahead of the event for free.
The event will consist of a discussion between Whitman and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Robert Brinkmann. Topics discussed will include “current state of democracy, civic engagement, centrist dialogue and bipartisanship, and the role of federal and state government in environmental justice,” according to NIU Today.
Whitman served as the first female governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001, resigning to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. During her nearly two terms as governor, Whitman made several landmark decisions by appointing women to offices which had never before been held by women in New Jersey, such as the first female chief of staff to the governor, first female attorney general (whom Whitman later named as the first female chief justice of the state supreme court) and several others.
Whitman’s policy agenda focused heavily on economic growth and reduced spending, along with expansion of school opportunities and environmental preservation.
During her first term, Whitman implemented a 30% income tax cut over three years as well as several other cuts for business taxes, all while eliminating two state departments and consolidating two more. She also restructured the Departments of Health and Environment and transformed the Department of Commerce and Economic Development into a Commission.
These policies, along with her narrowly approved 1997 proposal to issue $2.8 billion in bonds to refinance the pension funds’ $4.2 billion debt, have caused following administrations to claim that Whitman did more harm than good to the pension funds and state budgets.
For education, Whitman focused on reforming curriculum standards and pushed for the development of pre-K programs while expanding K-12 options. She also provided the opportunity for families to enroll their children in schools outside of their local districts, and expanded school construction as a whole with the passing of the 2000 Educational Facilities Construction and Financing Act.
Whitman also passed environmental reforms. She passed a constitutional amendment in 1998 to preserve open space, farmland, historic sites and created the Garden State Preservation Trust to acquire 300,000 acres of land for preservation. She also instituted stricter environmentally protective transportation policies and started initiatives to clean up polluted areas.
