Free and public panel to bring Tester, Racicot to Montana State campus April 10

BOZEMAN - Montana State University is hosting a panel discussion with notable Montana political figures that is free and open to the public.

"Public Things: Money, Transparent Elections and the Montana Experience," will be held on Friday, April 10, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Gaines Hall 101. The event is hosted by MSU's Public Things Project.

Featured panelists include former Montana Sen. Jon Tester; former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot; Jeff Mangan, founder of the Transparent Election Initiative; and Michael Beckel, director of a proposed state ballot initiative, Issue One.

The panel will be moderated by Sara Rushing of the MSU Department of Political Science, which is housed in the College of Letters and Science.

Attendees can expect to listen to conversations about how to maintain trust in public institutions, including free and fair elections, and gain insight into Montana policy discussions and vehicles for civic engagement.

People can attend in person or view the free livestream. Please RSVP at this link, which also provides access to the livestream.

This is the final event of the "Public Things" speaker series, which brought several notable speakers to campus this spring.

The series asks the question: "How do the public places and services that shape our everyday lives (from elections to parks, schools, and wildlife) sustain - and depend on - our democracy?" By linking everyday experiences to democratic theory, the Public Things program seeks to bridge the gap between academic research and vital civic concerns.

More information about the outreach work is available here.