Course allows students to weigh in on regional issues

Dana Enfinger
The State Hornet
Published November 15, 1999

CSUS students have the unique opportunity to take a class that not only allows them to learn about regional issues by meeting area civic leaders, but also to speak out about the future of the Sacramento region.

The class is Interdisciplinary Studies 151, The Sacramento Region: Issues, Opportunities and Challenges.

Course instructors are former Sacramento mayor Anne Rudin, Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce President Rusty Hammer and Dr. Charlotte Cook, Coordinator of the CSUS Office of Community Collaboration.

Students concerned about issues such as air and water quality, transportation and the conservation of open space, for example, will find the region course invaluable, said Cook.

Students learn how these regional issues are interconnected. And they also get to tell civic leaders how they feel about those issues.

The course culminates in final presentations to the class and civic leaders at a luncheon forum to be held on Dec. 6 in the University Union.

"I think that civic leaders want to hear what these students have to say. It validates what they are doing," said Rudin.

"People don't think they can do anything about traffic gridlock, for example," said Cook. "They say, 'This is a mess, but there's nothing I can do about it.' They have their blinders on."

The region course is "one tool for sensitizing people and how important regional issues are to the quality of life," said Cook.

Throughout the semester, guest speakers such as Bob Thomas, Sacramento city manager, and Jim Henley, director of the Sacramento History Museum, share their knowledge about regional issues.

In Spring 2000, Interdisciplinary Studies 151 will be held on Wednesdays from 3 to 5:50 p.m. For more information contact Dr. Cook at 278-4786 or ccook@csus.edu.