MADISON—The Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership is delighted to announce the launch of its Bridging the Divide program to reduce partisan division by fostering civil discourse among students and promoting civic virtue.
Bridging the Divide brings students with different ideological and partisan political perspectives together for regular small group conversations about current political issues and beliefs. Rather than reaching a consensus, the goal is simply to replace snark with civil dialogue and increase engagement and understanding between people with different opinions.
This program will begin on a limited set of University of Wisconsin campuses during the spring semester of 2024. These campuses are:
The University of Wisconsin –Eau Claire
The University of Wisconsin –Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin –Oshkosh
The University of Wisconsin –Parkside
Student liaisons were selected for each of the above campuses through an application process. Student liaisons act as hosts for their respective campuses and receive a scholarship from the Thompson Center.
The Thompson Center hopes to promote this program across the state and expand its reach to other University of Wisconsin campuses in future semesters.
