Windermere Hotel To Host Reception for CMU Endowed Speaker Series Aug. 29

A reception to raise money for an endowed speaker series at Central Michigan University, named after the late Senator Philip Hart and former Michigan Governor William Milliken, both of Mackinac Island, will be held at Windermere Hotel Tuesday, August 29, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The speaker series will be on integrity in politics and is named after Messrs. Hart and Milliken because they both served "as shining examples of cooperation and tolerance in a political climate where partisanship and divisiveness are increasingly

common obstacles that work to tarnish, rather than enhance, the legislative process," reads the proposal published by CMU.

Senator Hart used Mackinac Island as his home address and had a cottage on the East Bluff and rented an apartment downtown during his service as a United States Senator. His wife, Jane, and son, Michael, still reside here.

Governor Milliken and his wife, Helen, have a home in the Annex.

CMU wants to raise $1 million toward the endowment, which will be matched with

another $1 million by the university's endowment matching program. The endowment will generate about $90,000 a year for the speaker program.

Members of the advisory board for the endowment include a long list of friends of the two politicians, including Mackinac Island Mayor Margaret Doud, Mackinac Island State Park Commission Chairman Dennis Cawthorne, and Town Crier political columnist and former Milliken staffer, George Weeks.

Tuesday's reception is open to the public.