Lawmaker tries again to create civics center, less ideological this time

Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, talks with other legislators on the state House floor on Dec. 5, 2023. (Makenzie Huber/South Dakota Searchlight)

A bill proposing the creation of a civic engagement center at Black Hills State University in Spearfish cleared its first hurdle on Wednesday after a similar bill was defeated last year.

The South Dakota House Education Committee unanimously voted to forward the bill to a legislative budget committee for further review.

The center would be named in honor of the late Dr. Nicholas W. Drummond, who was a BHSU political science professor. The legislation says the center’s purpose would be to prepare students for active and informed participation in political and civic life.

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According to the bill, the center would incorporate a variety of disciplines such as communications, economics, history, philosophy, political science and sociology.

BHSU would work with the state Board of Regents and Northern State University in Aberdeen — which has its own Center for Public History and Civic Engagement — to develop curricula, host civic events and offer learning opportunities.

Rep. Scott Odenbach, R-Spearfish, introduced the bill.

“Whatever their major, they’re going to be our future citizens and leaders,” Odenbach said of the state’s university graduates.

Odenbach said Drummond, who died at age 43 on Dec. 12, “made a big impact on the lives of his students.”

That was made clear as numerous BHSU students testified in favor of the bill. Morgan Plucker, a BHSU senior, said, “Without Dr. Drummond, I would not have been able to realize my passion in life.”

Odenbach said the bill would leverage the $880,000 and three new full-time employees the Board of Regents is already requesting to establish such a center.

“We need to make this a priority as a state,” Odenbach said.

That was echoed by BHSU student body president Isabella Rowe, who said few of her peers care about politics and civics.

“I am fearful for my generation and the generations after me,” Rowe said.

Rep. Tony Venhuizen, R-Sioux Falls, who sits on the budget committee that will now consider the bill, also supports it . He said when he looks around at the nation’s universities, “You see institutions that have really gone off the rails.”

“I think it’s a problem for this country if we’re not teaching young people why America is an affirmative good,” Venhuizen said.

The initial success of this bill contrasts with Odenbach’s failure to pass a similar piece of legislation last year. That bill would have created a “Center for American Exceptionalism.” That center would have been required to develop college courses comparing communist and socialist countries to Western-style democratic countries and comparing command-style socialist economies to free-market capitalist economies throughout history.

Those and other similar provisions have been removed from this year’s bill.

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