Civic Literacy and Citizenship Symposium

The Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy (CSLD) is hosting a two-day Civic Literacy and Citizenship symposium at the Great Wolf Lodge in Wisconsin Dells on June 16-17, 2025.* This symposium seeks to enhance high school teaching in texts and ideas that contribute to a deeper understanding of America’s history, citizenship, founding principles, and the wider traditions that influenced their development. This year, the theme for the event is Navigating and Teaching Free Speech in Today’s Classroom. The program will explore how instructors can foster open dialogue while managing challenges and maintaining productive learning environments, particularly when discussing controversial topics in civics and social studies courses. It will address approaches to teaching free speech to students as a part of their civic education. The event will feature scholars from both within and outside the UW system.

The event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy at UW–Madison and the Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History.

*By invite only.
*Limited to two teachers from any one school.