Pomfret Announces New Forum on Politics and Public Policy

The inaugural event will focus on how politicians with differing positions can work together in a polarized world.

Pomfret is proud to announce the 1st Annual Congressman Horace Seely-Brown Jr. Forum on Politics & Public Policy. This free event will take place on Tuesday, November 12 at 6:45 p.m. in Jahn Reading Room on the Pomfret School campus. The inaugural topic this year is "Political Disagreement: How to make effective policy that recognizes the growing divide of public opinion in the United States."

"We are really hoping Quiet Corner residents will turn out,” said Pat Boyd, a longtime Pomfret faculty member and current state representative, who is coordinating the event. “We are neighbors, first and foremost, and this forum is a wonderful way for our community to come together."

Hosted by the Department of History and Social Sciences, the forum features a politically diverse panel of some of the most influential voices from all corners of the political spectrum in Connecticut. "It's not necessarily a debate of the issues," said Boyd. "It's a discussion about how policy is made and how to get from these points of disagreement to some end product that has to be settled one way or another."

The discussion will be student-facilitated and will end with a Q&A segment from the audience. The panelists include:

• Rep. Doug Dubitsky P ’20, ’22, Current Member of the Conservative Caucus
• Hon. Danny Rovero, Former Member of the Moderate Caucus
• Sen. Matthew Lesser, Current Member of the Progressive Caucus 
• Nancy Wyman, Former Lt. Governor & Current Chair of the Connecticut Democratic Party
• Christopher Lippke ’83, First Selectman for the Town of Canterbury 
• Rep. Pat Boyd, Pomfret School Teacher and Dean

"One of our main goals is to create civil discourse within this forum," said Emmy Gengras '21. "We want to have civil conversations, but also spark some disagreement among the different representatives that we have coming." 

The Seely-Brown Forum on Politics & Public Policy is named in honor of Horace Seely-Brown Jr., a former Pomfret School faculty member (1934–42) and former Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1947–49, 51–59, 61–63) from Connecticut’s 2nd district. He was a delegate to the Republican state conventions in 1938, 1940, and 1942.