Trinity University hosts a bipartisan team of two former Members of Congress as part of the Congress to Campus program from March 25-27. The two former Members of Congress who will come to Trinity are John Yarmuth (D-KY) and Dennis Ross (R-FL). While on campus, Yarmuth and Ross will visit classes, engage with students, and have a public discussion on Tuesday, March 27, at 4:30 p.m. in Dicke Hall 108 that will be moderated by Kyle Gillette, Ph.D., special adviser to the provost for expression and civil discourse.
This program offers students a valuable opportunity to engage in bipartisan dialogue and experience open and respectful discussions with people of diverse viewpoints. During classroom dialogue activities, students will be able to directly interact with, ask questions of, and learn from the former Members of Congress. Yarmuth and Ross will also provide insight into how Congress works, what it is like to work in Congress, and how Members get things done when they disagree.
“Though these representatives hold opposed positions and disagree on many policies,” Gillette says, “they are mutually committed to something fundamental to democracy: the ability to talk across different perspectives and debate what’s at stake. A ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people’ depends on citizens who actively uphold the freedom and responsibility to disagree productively. As a crucible for democracy, the university creates space to rehearse that act of citizenship.”
Congress to Campus brings together students of differing views, provides them a hands-on opportunity to experience civil discourse, and allows them to see the potential for bipartisan cooperation through the respectful exchange of ideas. Faculty and staff are encouraged to share the event information with their students and to consider offering extra credit for attending the public discussion on March 27.
Above image depicts John Yarmuth (left) and Dennis Ross (right)
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