Towson University holds opening ceremony for new civic engagement center
By John Woods, Contributing Writer
The recently established Ben and Myrna Cardin Center for Civic Engagement and Civic Discourse hosted its opening ceremony on Oct. 29, there it announced future initiatives and brought together politicians, university faculty and students.
“This event tonight was to give a formal launch to the center to get it known in the community, so that people recognize the value of the center and can tap into the center,” former U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin said in an interview, who was appointed Towson University’s second presidential scholar and the center’s co-chair earlier this year.
The Cardins established the center to provide the Towson community with events related to civic engagement, a platform to engage in political debate, and future graduate-level research opportunities.
About 200 people attended the invite-only, banquet-style event in the University Union on Wednesday. The event was relocated from the South Campus Pavilion due to capacity issues. Attendees were able to socialize with one another before speeches began.
Rikia Cornish, a student and Civic Renewal Fellow for the Office of Civic Engagement and Social Responsibility, was happy to attended the event.
“Just to be able to be around people who are also advocating for the same things that I believe in, working with the Office of Civic Engagement, and just being able to witness such a milestone moment,” Cornish said.
Prominent people who came to support the establishment of the center included Towson President Mark Ginsberg, Baltimore County Executive Kathy Klausmeier, Towson’s first Presidential Scholar Nancy Grasmick, and U.S. Reps. Kweisi Mfume and Steny Hoyer.
“And the students of Towson and the people who come to Towson University are going to be blessed by his participation in this civic engagement, in trying to deal with one another in a positive, constructive way, because that’s how he’s lived his life,” Hoyer said about Ben Cardin in an interview.
The speakers argued that college campuses, like Towson, are important places to foster civic engagement and civil debate.
“The people who’ve led this world, they weren’t 50, 60, 70 years of age,” Mfume said. “It starts right at the crucible of education, which are college campuses all over this country.”
The Cardins, as a couple, held the final speech of the night, where they announced the center’s first major community event on Dec. 4, where former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will focus on engagement on the global stage. They also announced that special assistant to the president Tameka Porter was the newly appointed interim executive director of the center.
“Yes, I believe this event was successful,” Porter said. “You see so many smiling faces, and you heard the applause for the senator and his wife and the good work that they have been doing.”