Catherine Kolb Stroup '83, P'19, and Chris Stroup P'19: Committed to Upholding Democracy through Dialogue

At Bucknell, we have an opportunity to really do something important for the country and for the world, and the only way we're going to be able to do it is to work together and work across differences.

Catherine Kolb Stroup '83, P'19 holds a belief that democracy depends on people to communicate across differences with respect, empathy and integrity.

It's what drove her to make — together with her husband, Chris P'19 — a $2 million lead commitment to the Bucknell Initiative for Dialogue & Democracy (BIDD).

"We're in a polarized nation," she says. "But we can't fear partisanship, we can't fear talking to each other. Bucknell has been working on this for a while — through the Dignity & Dialogue Circles program and the Bucknell Forum speaker series. The University's commitment to advance and formalize those efforts through BIDD made us enthusiastic about being the lead donors in this initiative."

Stroup traces her passion for this endeavor to growing concerns about civic disengagement and political polarization in the United States, particularly among younger generations. Stroup's interest in BIDD deepened after reviewing research on civic disengagement among young Americans. A 2024 report from the American Association of Colleges and Universities found troubling declines in confidence in democratic institutions among Gen Z voters.

The findings alarmed her: 58% of voters between the ages of 18 and 34 were not certain they'd vote that fall; almost one in three members of Gen Z said it made no difference whether they lived under a democracy or a dictatorship; and one in five believed a dictatorship could be a good idea in certain circumstances.

Those statistics reinforced Stroup’s belief that universities have a critical role to play in civic life, and she sees BIDD as a practical and hopeful response to national challenges. "I feel that universities, historically, have been the holders of knowledge, of truth and light through all sorts of times — dark or light," she says. "Bucknell is a place that is strong in this tradition."

Her commitment to democratic engagement is also rooted in personal experience. During a visit to Washington, D.C., she stood in front of the U.S. Capitol building and thought about the values represented in its architecture and artwork.

"In their pursuit of liberty and justice for all, our nation's founding fathers understood the virtues — peace, unity, empathy, integrity, discipline, patience, perseverance, kindness and compassion — as foundational principles of democracy," she says. "In order to grow as a country, in order to be powerful by empowering others, in order to lead our democracy, we need to teach those virtues and be able to communicate more clearly in our personal lives and our interactions with each other."

Together, the Stroups view their philanthropy as both an investment in Bucknell students and a contribution to the future of democratic society. As lead donors, they are eager to remain actively engaged as the initiative grows and evolves.

"I love Bucknell more now than I loved it when I was a student," she says. "Part of that is because of the wonderful people I know there now — the administration, the professors and President Bravman — and their collective hope for the future. I'm happy to participate in any way I can."

For Stroup, that optimism is what makes BIDD so important — and why she believes Bucknell is uniquely positioned to help students engage thoughtfully with the challenges facing our country.