Wisconsin Farmers Union, Stout United, and State Senator Patty Schachtner will host a virtual conversation on “Rural Politics and the Wisconsin Idea” from 6:30-8:00pm on Thursday, October 15. More than a century after University of Wisconsin President Charles Van Hise proclaimed “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family of the state,” his concept, later coined as the Wisconsin Idea, continues to serve as a guiding philosophy and connection between the UW System and rural communities. Join us for an evening of exploring this concept of how the university should serve citizens and legislators to improve the lives of everyday people. Dunn County Farmers Union President Rachel Henderson will moderate a panel featuring WFU Executive Director Julie Keown-Bomar, Assistant Professor of Geography at UW-Stout and Stout United member Innisfree McKinnon, and State Senator Patty Schachtner. The state’s commitment to the Wisconsin Idea is widely understood as part of Wisconsin's “secret sauce” that makes it a bastion of progressive leadership to this day. We’ll dive in on where we are, where we want to go, and how we might get there. There will also be time for Q&A. The event is free and open to the public.
Registration required: https://aft.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJMsf-muqDwqH9faCORcZvk-lkbC-jtd3w4W.