Legacy of Willowbrook Informs CSI Lecture 

Staten Island Advance - Saturday, March 29, 2008

The College of Staten Island will host its annual Willowbrook Memorial Lecture this week, on the campus where the state school for the developmentally disabled made international headlines for its ill treatment of patients.

CSI formally marked the 20th anniversary of the closing of Willowbrook State School last fall.

The topic of this year's lecture, on Wednesday, is "Willowbrook on Campus," and will focus on the importance of engaging students and faculty in teaching and learning about Willowbrook, organizers said.

It will be held in the Center for the Arts Recital Hall from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

It will be moderated by David Goode, a professor of sociology, anthropology and social work at the college.

Goode noted that while the exposes of the "unthinkably inhumane conditions" triggered the facility's closing, the shuttering of Willowbrook became a "critical event in the normalization of life for people with disabilities."

"The closing of Willowbrook State School and the legal precedents it set profoundly influenced the deinstitutionalization movement all over the United States," he said.

In addition to Goode, lecture panelists will include: CSI professors Linda Coull, Darryl Hill and Ed Meehan; James Kaser of the library; CSI student Vanessa DeBello, whose mother lived at Willowbrook, and Duncan Whiteside, a parent of a child who lived there.

"CSI acknowledges its unique responsibility to honor the memory of the history of our campus, which includes fostering teaching and scholarship," added Goode.

For further information about the lecture on Wednesday, Goode may be reached at: 718-982-3757.   

Reprinted here with permission from the