{"id":144818,"date":"2025-01-15T16:35:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T21:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=144818"},"modified":"2025-07-10T14:20:46","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T18:20:46","slug":"our-greatest-hopes-ucf-graduate-empowering-students-to-bridge-political-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/our-greatest-hopes-ucf-graduate-empowering-students-to-bridge-political-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Greatest Hopes: UCF Graduate Empowering Students to Bridge Political Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"

After sharing their thoughts on local and national elections, state amendments and county issues before the West Orange Chamber of Commerce, UCF graduates Dick Batchelor \u201971<\/strong> and Tico Perez \u201983 <\/strong>had agreed on one thing: to shake hands before departing the luncheon.<\/p>\n

Batchelor, a former Democratic Florida lawmaker, and Perez, a staunch Republican and retired lobbyist and lawyer, have both been popular Orlando-area television and radio political pundits. Despite their disagreements, the longtime political sparring partners are unicorns in that they have maintained an ability to talk to each other \u2014 not at each other \u2014 across the political divide.<\/p>\n

For decades Americans have been at odds politically over a myriad of issues. Batchelor is hardly a stranger to the heated discussions that play out across broadcast, social media and in town halls across the United States today.\u202fOnce named \u201cone of the most powerful people in Orlando,\u201d he has been a face of civility and compromise in politics and public service for the past half-century.<\/p>\n

In his work as a business and political consultant today, Batchelor recognizes Americans are worked up about\u2014 the past, the present and the future.<\/p>\n

Yet, Batchelor remains optimistic that Americans across party lines can put aside their differences and find common ground. The self-described \u201cglass half-full kind of guy\u201d is such a strong believer in that collective capacity that he wrote a book about how people can find a path to unity.<\/p>\n

Drawing on his life experiences, Batchelor wrote Building Bridges in Toxic Political Times: A Road Map for Community Leaders<\/em><\/a>, to share his belief that there is more that unites us than divides us. He doubled down on that position by establishing an endowed scholarship at UCF, which he hopes will inspire future generations of political science majors to become exceptional leaders determined to build communities, learn from one another and affirm political stability.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe local level is where we can find issues that we can agree on,\u201d says Batchelor, who, following graduation from UCF with a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science<\/a> in December 1971, was elected to the Florida Legislature three years later at the ripe age of 26. \u201cLet\u2019s sit down, take a deep breath, and work together \u2014 that\u2019s why I want to encourage young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Comparing and Overcoming Toxicity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Batchelor spent eight years in the Florida House of Representatives. It was a divisive time in politics and culture. A U.S. president had resigned. America was about a year removed from leaving the Vietnam War. Inflation was in double digits. Israel and Egypt just fought a war.<\/p>\n

\u201cToxicity is not<\/em> defined by somebody who disagrees with me or somebody who disagrees with either side of the issue,\u201d says Batchelor, who received the inaugural UCF Distinguished Alumni Award in 1979. \u201cToxicity is when you innately do not want to find a solution. It\u2019s better to politicize the issue than it is to solve the issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batchelor believes there are plenty of demanding issues that require solutions but are not partisan in nature. He cites the opioid overdose epidemic, domestic violence, local school funding and higher education as non-discriminatory areas where Republicans, Democrats and Independents can find their way to the middle \u2014 the sweet spot where listening silences shouts and mutual respect minimizes insults.<\/p>\n

The goal is to partner for a positive solution, whether that is in the political arena, boardroom, or on a college campus. Batchelor is no stranger to finding common ground with others of differing opinions. He would not have been able to pass 63 bills in one session of the Florida House if he had been.<\/p>\n

\u201cRespect is a pillar of bridge-building,\u201d says Batchelor. \u201cIt\u2019s an appeal to our better selves to come to the table with an open mind and an honest willingness to listen to achieve a workable consensus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawn of New Movement<\/strong><\/p>\n

The son of a sharecropper and tobacco farmer, Batchelor learned early on the advantages gained from compromise and teamwork while growing up in rural Hallsboro, N.C., in the 1950s, years before the modern civil rights movement had laid the groundwork for racial equality.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t own anything,\u201d says Batchelor, the middle child of seven. \u201cWe just worked the fields with lots of other dirt-poor people, many of whom were Black. In my world, it was accepted that Black people where inferior to white people. People didn\u2019t even question it.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the streets of Hallsboro and out in the fields, Batchelor heard the whispers about lynchings and cross burnings that the Klu Klux Klan used to terrorize and traumatize the Black community. Later, after his family moved to Orlando and lived in the Reeves Terrace public housing project, he remembers going to shows downtown at the Rialto and Beacham theaters, where he sat wherever he wanted. Black children were only allowed in the balcony, and certainly not in the high school he attended.<\/p>\n

It was not until he volunteered to join the Marines, at 18, that Batchelor gave racism some deeper thought. He was standing in the \u201cchow hall\u201d line when he struck up a conversation with another soldier. Without much effort, the two clicked. One talked. The other listened. A bond forged. Private James Johnson became Batchelor\u2019s first Black friend, and source of profound enlightenment for the next half century.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Johnson, a dear friend and a Black man, changed my life,\u201d says Batchelor, who, upon his return from Vietnam, enrolled at UCF, where he got involved with the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Government Association. He was learning the issues, sharing perspectives.<\/p>\n

At UCF commencement, Batchelor addressed his classmates. Wondering why the university drained the Reflection Pond when he knew it was to provide for seating, he joked to the crowd, \u201cI\u2019m a politician. I already know how to walk on water.\u201d From there on, politics was hardly a laughing matter, as he became increasingly engaged in civil rights and Central Florida\u2019s evolving demographics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it sounds corny, but politics was a tool for me to help other people \u2014 some by supporting legislation and budgeting appropriations for different kinds of community-based programs,\u201d says Batchelor, who, as president of the Orange County Young Democrats, ignored societal norms of the time and knocked on doors in Black neighborhoods, encouraging residents to vote and run for office. \u201cIt was really all about public service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never Too Late<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the ensuing years, working with the Black community and the underserved became his calling. In 1994, a decade after he left the Florida House of Representatives, President Bill Clinton appointed Batchelor \u2014 the same kid who grew up around Klu Klux Klan members in his community \u2014 to a delegation charged with observing the historic elections in South Africa that brought Nelson Mandela to power and heralded an end to apartheid.<\/p>\n

\u201cA person is not necessarily what his upbringing says he should be,\u201d says Batchelor, who Clinton would again appoint to serve on a United Nations Human Rights Commission and as a representative to UNESCO. \u201cI would suggest thinking about what you were raised to be and consider what you ought to be. It\u2019s never too late to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Closer to home, one of Batchelor\u2019s proudest moments came when he was elected chair of the Central Florida Urban League, the historic civil rights organization committed to social and economic equality that speaks to his heart. Pulling from that passion, Batchelor wants to inspire future generations of UCF students to pursue politics and serve the public good, the work that satisfies his soul.<\/p>\n

It is why he authored the book. Why he established a scholarship. Why he is hopeful.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have basically two choices: to be engaged or involved or uninvolved or disengaged,\u201d Batchelor says. \u201cWhen it comes to politics, you can\u2019t walk away from your community. You can\u2019t walk away from your state. You can\u2019t walk away from your country. Bridge-building, like every other worthwhile endeavor, begins with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more on <\/em>Building Bridges in Toxic Political Times: A Road Map for Community Leaders<\/em><\/a> and to purchase the book, visit <\/em>buildingbridgesbook.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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