OSU to teach civil discourse to politicians
The school at Ohio State University named for John Glenn will be home to a new institute aimed at helping elected officials better understand their positions and the importance of civil discourse in public service.
Republican lawmakers, who included funding for the State of Ohio Leadership Institute in the recently signed biennial budget, were on campus Wednesday to launch the effort.
“We are going to continue to advance (Glenn’s) legacy by helping to train and inspire the next generation of elected leaders,” said Trevor Brown, dean of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs, where the institute will be based.
Lawmakers included $5 million in the budget bill for the college to establish the institute — which Ohio State did not request — with a focus on providing “leadership training and education for current and future elected officials and senior staff and local government,” according to an analysis by the state’s Legislative Service Commission.
House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, said the institute has been in the works for a couple of years, with a long-term goal or providing training to legislators, county and township officeholders and other public servants on how government works.
“You’ve got businessmen and women, you have moms and dads, you’ve got police and firefighters, all these folks are coming together … to step up and say ‘Hey, I’ll put my name on the ballot, I’ll run,’” Rosenberger said. “And this is going to give them an opportunity … to help them understand the process of balancing their budgets. To help them understand the interactions of Clarksville, Ohio, or Cincinnati or Cleveland or Toledo with the state government and how our budget operates.”
Details on curriculum — for both in-person and online classes — will be developed over the coming year as the college hires staff members, Brown said. The institute itself will be nonpartisan, with organizers hoping to promote more cooperation across party lines.
“I think it’s important to have a place where people feel comfortable that they can come, regardless of their political affiliation or allegiance, to learn from each other,” Brown said. “We need a place that cultivates compromise. We envision some portion of the programming being specifically directed at civility, at how to achieve compromise, how to negotiate in a civil way, how to conduct yourself in a way that is respectful of your responsibility as both a citizen and an elected official.”
Asked whether the institute would serve as a landing site for him or other lawmakers after they finish their terms at the Statehouse, Rosenberger responded: “That’s about the goofiest damn question I’ve ever heard. … No, I’m not looking to come here to work for this institute at Ohio State. That’s never been the premise for it.”