(COLUMBIA, SC) Columbia College will host former U.S. Congresswomen Liz Patterson (D-SC) and Jan Meyers (R-KS) as a part of the national "Congress to Campus" program on Tuesday, and Wednesday, September 21 and 22. Patterson and Meyers will speak to classes, participate in a VOTE 2004 voter registration rally, conduct an open campus discussion on civic engagement and civil discourse, and interact informally with students and faculty.
The "Congress to Campus" program is an initiative of the Stennis Center for Public Service designed to aid American young people in developing a better understanding of American Government, politics, and public affairs. The program sends bipartisan pairs of former Members of Congress to visit college campuses around the country.
Patterson, a Spartanburg native and a 1961 graduate of Columbia College, served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1986 until 1992, prior to which she was a member of Spartanburg County Council and the S.C. Senate. In Congress, she chaired the Conservative Democratic Forum's Budget Reform Task Force, the Speaker's Task Force on Budget Reform, and the bipartisan Congressional Textile Caucus. She also served as a member of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs and its subcommittees; the Banking Committee's Task Force on International Competitiveness; the Veterans' Affairs Committee; and the Select Committee on Hunger. Following her defeat for a fourth term in Congress, she ran for the office of Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.
Meyers is a graduate of the University of Nebraska. During her 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1984-1996, she chaired the Small Business Committee and served on the International Relations Committee and its subcommittees, as well as the Economic and Education Committee. She was also selected to serve as vice president, and then president, of her Congressional class. Prior to running for Congress, she served from 1967 to 1972 on the Overland Park City Council, including as president, and from 1972 to 1984 as a member of the Kansas Senate.
