Former Census Bureau director to discuss Census 2000

Every 10 years Americans respond to a federal census in which they are asked to discuss everything from their income to their personal interests. The results of this study, which measures the country's population, is an important device for allocating federal funding to states and determines congressional redistricting.

The man behind this exhaustive project is Kenneth Prewitt, who will discuss the lessons he learned on the job in a speech today at 4:30 in Bowl 1 of Robertson Hall.

Prewitt, former director of the U.S. Census Bureau, will discuss the record-setting information uncovered by Census 2000 and examine the political controversy caused by a proposed revision to the entire census process.

President Clinton appointed Prewitt director of the Census Bureau in October 1998, and he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

In that capacity, Prewitt managed a large staff of economists, statisticians, demographers and survey experts. His overarching responsibility was to ensure the U.S. population — 281 million residents — were correctly counted.

Census 2000, the main focus of his attentions during his tenure, has frequently been described as the largest peacetime mobilization in history.

"The census itself was successful at reversing long-term trends of civic disengagement," Prewitt said.

In many ways, Prewitt's work with the census has been revolutionary.

"We are on our way in world history to become the first society made up of every other nation," he said.

Prewitt said he made serious efforts to increase the level of census participation from that of previous years and to encourage public confidence in the project. He also advocated the use of statistical sampling to correct historical undercounts.

"It's one of the most exciting demographic dramas in world history," said Prewitt, who recently stepped down from his position with the change in presidential administrations.

Census 2000 has caused significant excitement and upheaval in American politics. The census taken in 1990 missed more than eight million people, mostly minorities and renters from within urban areas, Wilson School professor Edward Freeland said.

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Some politicians have supported using statistical sampling as a more accurate way to conduct the census. Opponents have claimed that the Constitution requires actual counting, not the use of sampling, a position with which the supreme court has agreed.

Because congressional redistricting depends on the census, the political stakes in the debate over Census 2000 were very high.

"We were able to produce a successful operational census despite the inappropriate political rhetoric," Prewitt said.

In light of the controversy, the bureau planned for two, parallel censuses. As the data came in, experts found themselves facing a large discrepancy between the two figures.

The deadline for submission of the final census report is rapidly approaching and it is not likely that these strange results will be explained well enough for the new method of sampling to be adopted, wrote Census Bureau Director William Barron in a memo to U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, according to an article in The New York Times. Regardless, the 2000 census remains the most accurate ever.

Prewitt, a distinguished scholar and social scientist, comes to government service with an extensive background in higher education and private philanthropy. Most recently, from 1995 to 1998, he served as the president of the Social Science Research Council, a position he also held from 1979 to 1985.

For 10 years he was senior vice president of the Rockefeller Foundation, where he directed the International Science-Based Development Program involving activities in Asia, Africa and Latin America. He served for five years as the Director of the National Opinion Research Center, based at the University of Chicago.

He taught for 15 years at the University of Chicago, and for shorter periods, taught at Stanford University, where he received his Ph.D., Columbia University, Washington University, the University of Nairobi and Makerere University in Uganda.

Prewitt said he believes Census 2000 will go down in history as the event that began to redefine race in American society.

Prewitt said he enjoys lecturing on the topic because he is "interested in reaching Americans so that they are aware of the implications of the recent census."