As Republican Rep. Ken Buck surveyed a Lory Student Center ballroom packed with Colorado State University students, staff and community members, he remarked that he could likely identify five issues where very few people in attendance would agree with him.
But, Buck emphasized, these impasses aren’t where it has to end.
“I’m guessing we can find 100 issues in this room where we agree almost completely on this issue, but how we get to that point is different,” he said.
Buck, who has represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District since 2015, held a coffee talk on campus the morning of Jan. 26 as part of CSU’s Thematic Year of Democracy, a University-wide initiative aimed at exposing students to diverse perspectives and helping them find new pathways to civic engagement.
His advice to the students in the crowd? Get involved in politics early, be it through a seat on the local water board to volunteering for a campaign.
“One thing I can tell you is that I’m done, I’ve got this color hair and we need that color hair in Congress,” Buck said, pointing to his white hair and comparing it to the brown hair of the students moderating the event. “ … Someone said it’s the Year of Democracy at CSU but it’s also engagement – it’s not just studying democracy, it’s not just ‘wow, that’s an interesting form of government,’ it’s get off your butt and get engaged, knock on doors, lick stamps … do the things that help your side get their opinion out and make sure we are moving forward.”
Buck was the first of five major speakers slated to come to campus during the spring semester. CSU President Amy Parsons said she’s been encouraging students to intentionally seek out speakers who don’t share their same views.
“That’s what we’re trying to work with our students on, finding that common ground, how we can disagree better, more civilly, find those ways where we can make progress together, that’s what we’re all about at Colorado State University: individually and as a community, to strengthen our country overall in that democracy that we’re all going for,” Parsons said.
Upcoming Thematic Year of Democracy speakers
- Feb. 2: Jane Fonda, an award-winning actor and seven-time Golden Globe winner, who has used her platform for advocacy related to causes such as women’s rights, Native American rights and the environment. Event sold out; livestream the conversation here.
- April 8-12: Democracy Summit, with an April 12 closing keynote by Robert Putnam, the Malkin research professor of public policy at Harvard University.
- April 18: Ron Daniels has served as president of Johns Hopkins University since 2009 and has authored several books, including the 2021 book titled “What Universities Owe Democracy.”
- April 30: Donna Brazile is a political strategist, New York Times bestselling author, chair of the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, award-winning media contributor and was the first African American woman to serve as the manager of a major party presidential campaign, running the campaign of former Vice President Al Gore.