MY CAREER
PATH
ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY Nicholas Schroeck ’02 has spent his career facing off with polluters and protecting those whom pollution hurts the most.
As an environmental lawyer, Nicholas Schroeck (left, with Robert Burns from Friends of the Detroit River) has helped protect the Detroit River from pollution.
Dr. Andy Prinz talked me into becoming an urban studies major. I was interested in politics and law, but he taught me about the development of cities and the impact of governments on how people interact with each other and the environment. Now I practice and teach environmental law, and so much of the work I do relates to that interaction. At the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, I’m an associate dean of experiential education and an associate professor of law. I direct the Environmental Law Clinic, where students gain experience with real clients. We focus on environmental 48
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justice, trying to give a voice to lowincome communities of color that have been marginalized and exposed to high levels of pollution. I think about Dr. Prinz all the time. He was a legend and had a profound impact on my career path, and I try to be as good a mentor as he was. A lot of our work at the clinic is around transitioning to clean energy. We also helped the prosecution in the Flint water crisis. I’m proud of the work we have done holding heavily polluting facilities accountable. Last fall, we helped pass a new ordinance that protects the Detroit River from polluters. We humans do not have a
great track record of thinking about sustainability in the long term, but my students are fired up about trying to address climate change. It makes me think back to the Rev. H. Scott Matheney, who was another mentor to me at Elmhurst. He encouraged me to have a career that not only is professionally rewarding, but that nourishes me as a whole person, that leads to a more just and equal society. In environmental law, it’s very rare to pop the Champagne in celebration of a big win, but we push for incremental changes that will ultimately lead to a better world.
