From Monday, March 19 to Wednesday, March 21, two former Members of Congress, Jason Altmire (D-PA) and Barry Goldwater Jr. (R-CA), visited Ohio State's campus through the Congress to Campus program. This program is put on by the United States Association of Former Members of Congress, and was facilitated at Ohio State by the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability. 

During their time on campus, Altmire and Goldwater engaged with several segments of the Ohio State community, talking about their experiences in Congress and their perspectives on the democratic process in the United States. They met with graduate students, faculty, and administrators, but spent most of their time with undergraduates. They visited several classrooms, as well as participated in two events. 

In the first event, the former members participated in a roundtable deliberation about the opioid crisis in Ohio with the Politics, Society & Law Scholars, as well as students interested in public life. As Zach Varda of the Lantern writes, "The discussion was enlightening and heartening for me to see so many people with different backgrounds take a genuine interest in drug abuse, including those who have little to no personal connection with the issue." To read more about his experiences in the deliberation, you can read here. 

In the second event, Lantern journalists Summer Cartwright and Kevin Stankiewicz moderated a public panel with Altmire and Goldwater in which the former members discussed the growing partisan divide in the United States. To read more about their comments in this public discussion, you can read here.