SPIEL Launched at Sewanee

Conference Organizers Perrin de Jong (Center for Biological Diversity), Davis Mounger (Sierra Club) and Dr. Jon Evans (Sewanee) with Zyg Plater, Keynote Speaker

The Southeastern Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (SPIEL) is being held in Sewanee from October 11th to the 13th. The conference will play host to a wide variety of discussions between legal practitioners, scholars, and grassroots activists who will be addressing the many environmental challenges facing our region, including clear air, wetlands, forest conservation, renewable energy, environmental justice and more.

The keynote address on Saturday morning (10:50am in Blackman Auditorium), "Media, Law, the Snail Darter, and Democracy: How a Little Group of Tennesseans Carried a Little Fish through the Corridors of American Power Against a Notorious TVA Dam," will be given by Zygmunt Plater (University of Maine Law School), who argued this famous test of the Endangered Species Act in front of the United States Supreme Court.

The conference will also be a great opportunity for students to interact with professionals in the environmental space. We're pleased to be able to host a dinner/mixer specifically designed to foster student-professional interaction.  This event will take place on Saturday, 10/12, from 6-7 pm in Harris Commons, Spencer Hall and is sponsored by the Sewanee Integrated Program in the Environment.

Admission for the conference is free for all Sewanee students, faculty and staff!

Jon Evans (Biology) and Patrick Gauding (Politics) are serving as faculty liaisons to the conference.  We look forward to seeing you at SPIEL!