Data Centers: Democracy Under Construction

Free and open to the public. No registration necessary.

Featuring 2026-27 Wayne Morse Chair Katherine Cramer.

Join In Person: Ford Alumni Center, Giustina Ballroom, 1720 East 13th Ave, Eugene

Join via Livestream link: https://www.youtube.com/live/R9hKcXuSzrc

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Data centers are rapidly reshaping communities across Oregon and the nation, generating public debate about energy, water, land, economic development, and the distribution of public resources. These controversies raise broader questions about the role of the public in decisions about major infrastructure; and about the trust people place in the institutions responsible for making those decisions.

Drawing on her research on public opinion, political culture, rural communities, and democratic life, 2026–27 Wayne Morse Chair Katherine Cramer will use controversies surrounding data centers as a window into how people understand the public’s role in shaping their communities. Cramer will examine what people are asserting when they call for greater public participation, question institutional decision-making, or express a desire to restore trust in government and other institutions.

Rather than taking a position on the development of data centers, Cramer’s talk will explore what these debates can teach us about democracy in practice and about the challenges and possibilities of rebuilding trust between communities, institutions, and decision makers.

The conversation is part of the Wayne Morse Center’s 2025–27 Theme of Inquiry, Common Ground: Cities, Towns, and Counties Confronting Shared Challenges, which examines how communities can confront difficult issues that cross geographic and political boundaries.

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About Wayne Morse Chair Katherine Cramer:

Katherine Cramer is the Virginia Sapiro Professor of Political Science and Vilas Research Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is known for her innovative approach to the study of public opinion, in which she uses methods such as inviting herself into the conversations of groups of people to listen to the way they understand their connections to politics and government, and to each other. She is the author or co-author of six books including the 2026 book with Larry Bartels, The Politics of Social Change: From the Sixties to the Present Through the Eyes of a Generation. She recently co-chaired the American Academy of Arts and Science Commission on Reimagining Our Economy (CORE) and has worked with the Center for Constructive Communication at MIT, and the affiliated nonprofit Cortico, since 2017 to create a platform and approach that aims to improve public understanding and policy making. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, and the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts & Letters.