Congress to Campus 2023 at Inver Hills

Former Members of Congress (FMC) David Skaggs and Tim Petri and Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon visit Inver Hills

Inver Hills Community College hosted Congress to Campus September 25 and September 26, 2023, on the college’s campus in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota. A Former Members of Congress (FMC) program, Congress to Campus provides college students with a unique civic education by engaging them in honest dialogue that brings today’s issues to the forefront and showcases the benefits of healthy partisanship and disagreement with civility.

Former members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom “Tim” Petri and David Skaggs, interacted with students in a series of discussions on a range of topics, including:

Youth and Economic Opportunity
Funding a Climate-Friendly Future
Student Loan Forgiveness
Science and Communication: Combating Pseudoscience
Educating Civic Professionals
The Role of Government in Social Programs
How Does Research Inform Decisions and Positions in Government?
Media Literacy and Its Impact on Democracy

Former Congressmen Skaggs and Petri were joined by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon for the Media Literacy and Its Impact on Democracy discussion, which was moderated by Zack Sullivan, EdD, political science faculty at Inver Hills. During the discussions, students learned more about the inner workings of government, the legislative process, and the benefits of bipartisanship.

Shannon Williams is the community-based learning coordinator at Inver Hills. Shannon was instrumental in setting up and organizing the Congress on Campus visit to the college. She believes voting and contributing to civic discourse should be a priority for college students, who are situated to offer often crucial perspectives on social issues and can produce positive change by taking on more active roles in shaping their future world. Civic participation also provides invaluable learning experiences.

“Regardless of your career field or industry, being able to disagree with civility, engage in tough conversations, clearly communicate ideas, and think critically are necessary skills,” Shannon said. “Congress to Campus was a great opportunity to demonstrate how those skills can work in the context of our democracy. This program fit well into the mission of our community-based learning program, which is to give students opportunities to learn civic skills that will help them to be successful both in the community and the workplace.”

Shannon added that hosting Congress to Campus was made possible by a grant from the Park Foundation, which covered 100 percent of all the program expenses.