Professor to offer colorful snapshot of Wisconsin politics
April 19, 2013
From budget cuts to bargaining rights, Wisconsin has been in a state of political turmoil since 2011. A top state political scientist will try to make sense of it all in a public lecture at UW-Whitewater.
Political expert Charles Franklin will speak on "Wisconsin Divided and United: The Structure of Badger State Politics'' in the university's 28th annual Kyle Lecture at 7 p.m. April 24.
Franklin is director of the Marquette Law School Poll, a political science professor at UW-Madison and founder of Pollster.com. His lecture, in Summers Auditorium at the James R. Connor University Center, is free and open to the public.
He will address the past and current political environment of the state and where public opinion is driving our political future.
"Franklin will give the audience a snapshot of the Wisconsin political atmosphere in a very colorful way,'' said Susan Johnson, chair of the Political Science Department at UW-Whitewater. "Anytime you bring a speaker to campus with the reputation of Franklin, it is a great opportunity for students and community members to come out and learn something new. A picture will be painted of the state's political climate."
The Kyle Lecture was endowed by John Kenneth Kyle, a 1922 UW-Whitewater alumnus, who worked for Gov. Philip La Follette. He was committed to UW-Whitewater and wanted to create a lecture series to bring speakers with a strong connection to Wisconsin to campus.