Speaking on “The Challenge of the Black Ghetto,” Alexander Polikoff will deliver the keynote presentation at the Richard C. Van Dusen Forum on Urban Issues on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 8:30-11 a.m., at Wayne State University’s McGregor Memorial Conference Center. Although reservations are required – call (313) 577-8819 or email ad9385@wayne.edu by Friday, September 22 – the event is free and open to the public.

Polikoff’s latest book is the recently published Waiting for Gautreaux: A Story of Segregation, Housing and the Black Ghetto, about which George Galster, Wayne State University Clarence Hilberry Professor of Urban Affairs, writes: "For those who do not know the story, it will read like a good \'whodunit.\' For those familiar with the general outline, the behind-the-scenes views are provocative, insightful, and demanding of careful study. All readers will find the book rich in metaphor, clever in foreshadowing, and elegant in prose. There is no book like Waiting for Gautreaux." Best-selling novelist Scott Turow calls Waiting for Gautreaux an “inspiring and fascinating book.”

Polikoff is the lead attorney in an ongoing, 40-year landmark housing case that is sometimes referred to as the Brown v. Board of Education of the fair housing movement. Following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, the case led to the creation of a national movement that seeks to add “housing mobility” to the tools used to address the inter-generational cycle of inner-city poverty.

Polikoff, who for 29 years was the executive director of Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (BPI), a Chicago-based public interest law and policy center, still serves on the BPI legal staff. He is a 2006 recipient of one of American Lawyer Magazine’s Lifetime Achievers Awards, honoring distinctive careers and public service.

Prior to joining BPI, Polikoff was a member of the Chicago law firm of Schiff Hardin & Waite. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Chicago (the latter in English language and literature), and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. He also has served as a director and general counsel of the Illinois Division of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), is a former national ACLU Board Member, and in addition to two books is the author of numerous articles on urban affairs.

Sponsored by The Richard C. Van Dusen Endowment, the Van Dusen Forum is named after the late Richard C. Van Dusen, a prominent attorney from Detroit who made a lifetime commitment to improving urban communities. Among his many accomplishments, Van Dusen served as undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), was a member of the Michigan House of Representatives, and chaired the Detroit Regional Chamber. He was also a distinguished governor of Wayne State University.

Wayne State University is a premier institution of higher education offering more than 350 academic programs through 11 schools and colleges to more than 33,000 students.