{"id":219430,"date":"2024-09-27T07:20:56","date_gmt":"2024-09-27T11:20:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=219430"},"modified":"2024-09-27T09:35:29","modified_gmt":"2024-09-27T13:35:29","slug":"at-visit-to-dodd-center-former-members-of-congress-discuss-bridging-divides-and-issue-a-call-to-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/09\/at-visit-to-dodd-center-former-members-of-congress-discuss-bridging-divides-and-issue-a-call-to-action\/","title":{"rendered":"At Visit to Dodd Center, Former Members of Congress Discuss Bridging Divides \u2013 and Issue a Call to Action"},"content":{"rendered":"

By all appearances, the two former longtime members of the U.S. House of Representatives who visited UConn Storrs on Thursday morning could not have been more different.<\/p>\n

The first, a Latino woman from Orange County, California.<\/p>\n

The second, a white man from southeast Michigan.<\/p>\n

The first, a Democrat who won her seat in Congress by defeating a long-serving Republican by less than 1,000 votes in 1997.<\/p>\n

The second, a Republican from a swing district who worked as a congressional staffer and a member of Ronald Reagan\u2019s administration before his own election in 1987.<\/p>\n

But on the stage of the Konover Auditorium at The Dodd Center for Human Rights \u2013 before a crowd of mostly UConn students \u2013 it wasn\u2019t the differences between former Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA, 1997-2017) and Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI, 1987-2023) that were on display.<\/p>\n

It was, instead, the similarities that they share after two long careers in public service.<\/p>\n

In a comfortable conversation moderated by NBC Connecticut reporter and anchor Amber Diaz \u201911 (CLAS) and punctuated by anecdotes from their own personal lives and experiences, Sanchez and Upton talked about the challenges in bridging divides at a time when politics feel increasingly polarized, and misinformation is rampant.<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, today, it\u2019s different from when I was in the Congress even a year ago,\u201d said Upton.<\/p>\n

Both Sanchez and Upton stressed the importance of listening to other viewpoints, of being an educated voter, and electing leaders \u2013 regardless of political affiliation \u2013 who believe in and uphold democratic institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come and go, personalities come and go, but institutions are the mainstay of what makes us a good society,\u201d said Sanchez.<\/p>\n

\"Former
Former members of Congress Fred Upton and Loretta Sanchez participate in a discussion with NBC CT anchor and reporter Amber Diaz ’11 (CLAS) during Congress to Campus at the Dodd Center on Sept. 26, 2024. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They also discussed what it means to \u201cmeet people where they are\u201d \u2013 something that feels even more relevant at a time of political division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people come to the Congress, when people come to positions of power at the city or state level, they come with their own baggage,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cThey come with their own history, what their experiences are. Everybody has a story. Everybody can be an interesting person. You just have to take the time to listen to who they are, and if you take that time, then I believe you can find common ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding out about other people\u2019s districts, what they cared about \u2013 whether it\u2019s energy policy or health policy, whether you could help them, whether they be a Republican or Democrat, being able to go to the other side of the aisle and being able to have a conversation with them, talk about amendments \u2013 that\u2019s, to me, how you meet people where they\u2019re at,\u201d said Upton. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how things ought to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sanchez and Upton visited UConn through Congress to Campus<\/a> \u2013 the flagship program of the nonprofit organization FMC<\/a>, a bipartisan, voluntary alliance of former U.S. Senators and Representatives who advocate for representative democracy at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

Congress to Campus offers a unique civic educational experience by engaging honest dialogue with bipartisan teams of former members of Congress, congressional staff, and American diplomats. Sessions have been held on 183 campuses in 43 states and seven countries, reaching more than 57,000 students in the last 10 years alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday’s conversation is important, because it is a reminder of what our discourse can be,\u201d said Nick Lanza, \u201925 (CLAS), the director of external affairs for UConn\u2019s Undergraduate Student Government. \u201cThat we can have civil discussions. That we can debate different opinions, without getting personal. Today is about a better way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The need for civic participation is crucial every year, UConn\u2019s President Radenka Maric said in her welcoming remarks before the discussion. But this year, in the midst of a presidential election, participation feels especially urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe live in a time when Americans seem divided in an almost unprecedented way,\u201d she said. \u201cAcross social media and the traditional news media, there is no shortage of angry, aggrieved voices denouncing their fellow Americans on the other side of the ideological divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet, as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace recently found, in reality, there is more common ground among Americans on policy issues than many people believe,\u201d Maric continued.<\/p>\n

James Waller \u2013 the inaugural Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice at UConn and director of\u00a0Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs<\/a>, which hosted the Congress to Campus event \u2013 said it\u2019s true that democracy is on the ballot in the U.S. this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, in truth, democracy is always on the ballot,\u201d Waller said. \u201cEvery federal election, every state election, every local election, every election at every level asks us the collective question of who we aspire to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrue democracy is never absolutely sure of itself. In other words, true democracy is always interrogating itself. It\u2019s always asking itself hard questions,\u201d Waller said. \u201cIndeed, the biggest threat to democracy is when it becomes so sure of itself that it stops asking those hard questions, when we take it so much for granted that we stop actively nurturing and sustaining our democratic institutions, when we take it so much for granted that we choose not to exercise our right to vote, that we choose not to be civically engaged because we feel so powerless and things feel so distant from us.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Upton and Sanchez also had an overarching message for the students in attendance: Your action is needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re really here to tell the young people in the room run for office, work on campaigns, get involved locally,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cWe need you. We need you to decide that public service is really worth it and bring your ideas. Bring your new energy. Help us to solve the issues that are affecting your lives every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UConn
UConn President Radenka Maric gives opening remarks during Congress to Campus at the Dodd Center on Sept. 26, 2024. (Sydney Herdle\/UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou’re our future, and you’ve got to be part of it,\u201d said Upton. \u201cBecause if we’re going to turn this ship around, it starts with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That call to action is also what Diaz, who studied journalism and English as an undergrad at UConn, hopes that students will take away from the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that they took away the power of a vote and that they will get involved, because it’s very, very imperative that they get involved,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cAnd I hope they get involved in politics, because honestly, nowadays, people turn off the TV. Or they turn off the radio. They don’t want to hear it. Or it’s the other extreme, and they want to argue about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really hope that people start researching, and getting more information, and really come out and vote, because it’s in their hands. The power is in their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Congress to Campus event was co-sponsored by UConn\u2019s Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, School of Public Policy, Department of Political Science, Undergraduate Student Government, Department of Residential Life, Community Outreach, Office of Outreach and Engagement, and the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work. It was supported by Citizen Travelers, the nonpartisan civic engagement initiative of Travelers.<\/em><\/p>\n

The outreach and engagement arm of human rights at UConn, Dodd Human Rights Impact works to develop and support programs and initiatives that seek to directly impact local and global communities by helping them meet their human rights challenges.<\/em><\/p>\n

For more information about Dodd Impact, visit\u00a0<\/em>humanrights.uconn.edu\/dodd-impact-programs<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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