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messiness. And it just
needs to stop.

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>> All right. Congressman
Pocan thanks for your time.

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>> Sure. Thank you.
>> UW-Madison has announced

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a new program designed to
foster and strengthen civil

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dialog across the
university. It's called the

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Wisconsin Exchange
joining us now to talk

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about the program is
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.

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Thanks for your time today.
>> Thanks for having me.

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>> So so what is the
Wisconsin Exchange?

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is a collection of programs
and opportunities for

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students, as well as
faculty and staff, to gain

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experience in engaging with
each other across their

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differences, whether those
differences come as

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differences in background
or identity or viewpoint

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and perspective. We already
had a number of things

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happening on campus around
this, but we wanted to to

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grow those further because
I think it's a significant

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priority for our campus and
frankly, for our nation.

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>> So Republicans have
criticized UW-Madison for

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liberal professors. Making
young conservatives feel

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uncomfortable on campus. Is
this a response to those

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types of complaints?
>> This is actually

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something that I think is
deeper and far broader. I

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think that universities are
perfect places for people

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to learn from, and to learn
to talk to people who

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experience the world
differently from the way

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that they do. That goes all
the way back to sifting and

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winnowing a core idea at
UW-Madison. And I think we

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do a fair amount of that
already. And I also think

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there are opportunities to
be more intentional about

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it, and also to give people
practice and skills. Many

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people these days live in
relatively siloed

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environments in terms of
viewpoint and perspective,

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and we want people to get
out of their silos and have

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the experience of learning
from and talking to each

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other.
materials. It doesn't look

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requirement, not like a
freshman class. So how do

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you get the people that may
need this the most to

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actually buy into it?
>> That's a fair question,

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and I think we're frankly
starting out with a

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coalition of the willing.
We're starting out with

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people who are interested
in doing this. It won't

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reach everybody on our very
large, pluralistic campus

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from the get go. We already
have programs like the

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deliberation dinners, where
375 of our undergraduates

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are raising their hands to
come together for six

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dinners across the year in
groups of ten that are

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selected for viewpoint
diversity, to gain skill

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and practice. In talking
about pretty contentious

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issues and learning that
you can learn from people

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who see the world very
differently from themselves,

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that's grown over the past
couple of years each year.

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And in fact, we had more
people who wanted to

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participate this year than
we could than we could

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include. And these
additional programs will at

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first be for those who are
interested, I hope down the

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road that we might be able
to grow some trainings in

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other spaces around the
university and reach even

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more students, as well as
faculty and staff.

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>> So in recent years,
we've seen student

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protesters take over
over Gaza. We've seen

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conservative groups book
speakers accused of hate

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speech. How would this
program deal with those

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types of environments?
>> Well, I mean, in some

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ways, protest is part of
free speech. It's

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absolutely permitted under
the First Amendment that

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you can also have time,
space, time, place and

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manner rules that limit it.
Similarly, we've had many

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speakers from across the
political spectrum,

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including very conservative
speakers, as well as very

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left leaning ones who've
come to campus and shared

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their views with people who
are interested in hearing

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from them without incident.
I think that is absolutely

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part of what needs to
happen on a university

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campus. We also need more
opportunities for people

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who disagree with each
other to show that they can

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do that diplomatically,
respectfully, not

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necessarily succeeding in
changing each other's mind.

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But but when you hear from
someone with a different

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point of view, sometimes it
does change your mind.

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Other times it sharpens and
focuses your own arguments.

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I hear that just before me
on this show, you had two

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congressmen from opposite
sides of the aisle talking

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to each other. That's a
perfect example.

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>> So in August, the
university lost a free

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speech case in a federal
court filed by a woman who

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said the UW was blocking
her speech on social media

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channels. How does
moderation of speech on

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social media work with
civil discourse in the

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public space? Because often
that speech is overlapping.

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>> Yeah. I mean, I think
that we need to have robust

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dialog in all the different
spaces that are available.

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I don't, frankly, find that
social media is the most

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useful or valuable space
for having civic engagement

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across our differences. I
think that often on social

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media, people are more
interested in in, in

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supporting their existing
point of view, rather than

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bringing curiosity and
compassion to their

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engagement with one another.
So I don't see this

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initiative as terribly
connected to the social

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media space of it all. It's
much more about in real

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life and perhaps virtually
giving people opportunities

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to be part of conversations.
>> All right, Chancellor

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Mnookin, thanks for your
time today.

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>> Thank you so much for
having me.

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[MUSIC]
>> We wanted to ask the

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Chancellor about the state
of the UW athletic

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department and head
football coach, Luke

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Fickell. Chancellor Mnookin
wanted to keep the focus on