The Weldon Cooper Center for Public Services hosted a conference yesterday entitled the "Implications of Growth for Virginia & the Nation," to discuss the potential implications of the United States population exceeding 300 million people, as it is expected to later this month.
The conference began with a luncheon featuring conference keynote speaker Charles L. Kincannon, director of the U.S. Census Bureau, who emphasized the importance of this milestone.
"Today, the United States is more populated, more educated and more likely to live in metropolitan areas than ever," Kincannon said. "Three hundred million is a chance to pause and reflect."
The morning session also included Qian Cai, director of the Center's Demographics and Workforce Section. Cai discussed population growth in Virginia and the importance of migration to that growth.
The conference also included an afternoon panel discussion which featured prominent University speakers. Sarah McConnell, the producer and host of the NPR radio show With Good Reason, served as moderator.
"Studies show that if every person in the world consumed as much resources per capita as we do in the United States, we would need four Earths," McConnell said.
She went on to add that there is a new citizen in the U.S. every 11 seconds.
Daphne Spain, the James M. Page professor and chair of the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning, said "the importance is not the number, but the composition [of the population]."
University Politics Prof. Larry Sabato said he agreed with Spain in that the number was not something to celebrate. Rather, Sabato focused on the political implications of the makeup of the 300 million people.
"With the growth of the Latino vote, Bush and Rove are pushing for the immigration laws because they are looking to the future, so they can command the electoral vote," Sabato said.
William Morrish, the E.R. Quesada professor of landscape architecture and city planning, related the numbers to University students and their appreciation for the influx of new cultures and ideas.
"Students today are polyplace-polygamous: they borrow from everywhere, all cultures, all values," Morrish said.
William Harvey, vice president and chief officer for diversity and equity, also spoke at the event, saying that the increased population will increase diversity in the country, which will further progress the idea of democracy.
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