The Minnesota Civic Studies Initiative and the College of Education and Human Development, University of Minnesota, present the first annual Minnesota Symposium on Civic Renewal.
Americans of diverse political, social, and cultural perspectives agree that our public life is dysfunctional. In one way or another citizens feel displaced from the center of self-government, relegated to the role of consumers accepting or rejecting prefabricated solutions to their problems or enhancements to their lifestyles. The result has been polarization, with policy questions presented as zero-sum contests to constituents lacking opportunities to engage civilly across differences.
The Minnesota Symposium on Civic Renewal showcases the ways that various groups of Minnesotans are working together, across differences, to reassert their ownership of public life and their responsibilities to improve it. It also features a keynote address from philosopher, educator, and Washington Post columnist Danielle Allen, Director of the Safra Center for Ethics at Harvard University and best-selling author of Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship since Brown vs. the Board of Education (Chicago), Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality (W. W. Norton), and CUZ: The Life of Michael A. (Livewright). CEHD's Bill Doherty is also a featured speaker.
Join us – and a few hundred of your fellow Minnesotans – to explore and imagine how we can reclaim democracy as the work of citizens. See the full schedule and purchase tickets.