Dole Institute of Politics, Bipartisan Policy Center announce partnership
LAWRENCE – In honor of the 100th birthday of the late Bob Dole, U.S. senator from Kansas from 1969 to 1996 and Republican senate leader from 1985 to 1996, the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas and Washington, D.C.-based organization Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) announce plans to create an ongoing programmatic partnership that fosters bipartisan engagement and civility in future generations of leaders.
“We are excited to work with our friends at BPC in Washington to bring the nation’s top policy experts and legislative leaders to the Dole Institute to engage with undergraduate students here at KU and, eventually, across the state,” said Audrey Coleman, Dole Institute director. “Our organizations both recognize that bipartisan compromise is the foundation of policymaking in a democracy, and we’re proud to promote that value together in new generations.”
John Richter, BPC’s Governing and Civics Project director, said, “It is entirely fitting that BPC joins with this highly regarded institute established by one of our founders. Senator Dole devoted his entire life to service. While he vigorously embraced the ‘R’ after his name, above all he considered himself an ‘American’ — and understood that driving our diverse nation forward requires collaboration and compromise. BPC launched our Campus Partnerships Program this year to help the next generation of leaders appreciate and operationalize this principle, and there is no better place to do that than the Dole Institute.”
The Dole Institute and BPC have partnered in the past, most recently in April 2023 when the Dole Institute hosted former U.S. senators Trent Lott and Tom Daschle to discuss their careers and practical bipartisanship during a public interview program.
The Dole Institute was dedicated July 22, 2003, at the University of Kansas on Dole’s 80th birthday. Home to the personal archives of both former lawmakers Bob and Elizabeth Dole, with a museum facility on par with the U.S. presidential libraries, the Dole Institute has been a vibrant political forum promoting civil discourse, civic engagement and idea exchange across the political spectrum for 20 years.
The Bipartisan Policy Center is a mission-focused organization helping policymakers work across party lines to craft bipartisan solutions. By connecting Republicans and Democrats, delivering data and context, negotiating public policy, and creating space for bipartisan collaboration, BPC helps turn legislators’ best ideas into durable laws that improve lives. Since 2007, the Bipartisan Policy Center has helped shepherd countless bills across the finish line.