The Honorable Dorothy Rupert, local leader and former Colorado State Senator, has returned to CU-Boulder to teach a course on democracy this spring as part of the INVST Community Studies Youth Council for Public Policy academic program.
The Youth Council for Public Policy is a non-partisan program that engages both college and high school students from the Boulder Valley and Saint Vrain districts in the Colorado legislature. Students in the Youth Council for Public Policy learn to be responsible citizens and advocates for their generation, and they have the opportunity to present the youth perspective on public policy issues.
This semester, Rupert and her co-lecturer, Joanne Meens, Judicial Affairs Consultant at Naropa University and graduate from INVST's 2-year Community Leadership Program, will combine intellectual exploration on democratic values, civic participation, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, with field trips to the State Capitol and engaging discussions with distinguished guests in class. Scheduled to make appearances are Vincent Harding, civil rights leader who authored Dr. Martin Luther King's speech against the Vietnam War; Former US Congressman David Skaggs; CO State Representative Claire Levy; CU Regent Joe Neguse; CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Administration Frank Bruno; State Senator Rollie Heath; former Amnesty International director Ellen Moore; and Steve Fenberg, the Executive Director of New Era Colorado who works on getting out the youth vote.
Former State Senator Rupert founded the Youth Council for Public Policy with INVST Community Studies students and staff in 1999. Rupert is an incredibly accomplished local and global hero. She was among the 1000 women nominated by the Women's International League for Peace & Freedom to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2005.
Rupert will extend and deepen the Youth Council’s focus on cultivating young people as the voices of their generation, by continuing to expose them directly to the power and potential of the electoral process for positive change. For more information about the INVST Community Studies program visit www.colorado.edu/communitystudies.