I grew up with a front-row seat to some major disagreements.
My father is a legal scholar and expert in negotiation and conflict resolution who spent part of his career bringing individuals, families, major companies, and even countries together over some of the hardest issues imaginable. Around our dinner table, he talked often about empathy, which he defined as working hard to understanding the other side’s issues, needs, and perspectives. Empathy, as he defined it, doesn’t mean agreeing, or even sympathizing; it does mean listening carefully and working nonjudgmentally to understand their interests and perspectives.
I learned lessons about working to understand others’ points of view, even when we don’t agree, and those lessons shape me to this day. I believe deeply that universities like ours have a special role to play in helping students learn to engage productively and with respect across their differences. (I had a chance to speak — and learn more — on this topic last month at the Reagan Institute’s education summit and this month at a national conference on building next-gen leaders in a divided world).
No Need to Agree on Everything to Work Together on Something
That’s why I’m excited to tell you that just last week, we launched the Wisconsin Exchange: Pluralism in Practice — to create additional opportunities for our campus community to pour their creativity and curiosity into building new tools to help us meet this defining moment.
The Wisconsin Exchange builds on work already underway and encourages the curiosity, humility, and collaboration that Wisconsin and our world need more than ever right now.
The project kicks off with a seed grant competition for students, faculty, and staff, and it includes a speaker series and even an AI-powered program that helps students rehearse hard conversations.
Wisconsin is a deeply purple state. Some might see that as a challenge. I see it as a gift — a chance to show that differences, in viewpoint and otherwise, don’t have to divide us, and to model what civil discourse at its best really looks like.
Cause for Celebration
The news about breakthrough discoveries keeps coming — including a new treatment for Parkinson’s disease that’s showing promise in its first clinical trial, and a new blood test that can detect Alzheimer’s disease.
With a Little Help from Our Friends
Speaking of urgent challenges: earlier this month, I hosted a lunch for about 600 members of our school and department boards of visitors. As usual, it was full of energy and Badger spirit (plus a challenging trivia quiz!). But we also talked about the challenges and risks the university faces, and the most common question I heard was: How can we help?
Here is my answer: Keep talking about the extraordinary impact of the research happening here. Talk about how two-thirds of our undergraduates now leave with zero student debt — and most in under four years. And talk about how, this fall, for the first time in more than a decade, we welcomed students from all 72 Wisconsin counties and more first-generation students than in the past two decades — real proof that access and excellence can go hand in hand.
So tell your friends and neighbors. Tell your elected officials here in Wisconsin and in Washington, DC. We have a great story, and we need your help to tell it.
And please give, as you’re able. Philanthropy is deeply important always — and that’s doubly true in this moment.
Thank you for all you do, and on, Wisconsin!
Jennifer L. Mnookin
Chancellor
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Chancellor’s Choice
Bucky turned 85 this month, with a big birthday bash befitting our favorite badger! Celebrate with some mascot history (including the Henrietta Holstein coup attempt), or revisit “Being Bucky” and “Bucky’s Game Day” for a look at life inside the suit.
UW–Madison has a Badger Cheese Club — because, of course we do! At nearly 500 members strong, it’s one of the largest student orgs, but anyone can savor the experience via their delicious Instagram account.
Ahead of Veterans Day, I’m grateful to the thousands of Badger alumni who have served proudly in the armed forces and defended the freedoms we cherish (including a few famous veterans like astronauts Jim Lovell x’50 and Laurel Clark ’83, MD’87).