(Des Moines, Iowa) – Drake University is the recipient of a $5-million dollar gift intended for the University’s Center for Public Democracy. According to the Iowa Capital Dispatch, the announcement was made last Friday by Ron Olson, as he addressed the journalists in Drake University’s Sheslow Auditorium during a press conference.

Ron and his wife Jane hope the university will continue to support students as they seek to address problems facing democracy in the U.S. The facility on the Drake campus will now be known as the Ron and Jane Olson Center for Public Democracy. The university plans to use the funds to expand its efforts to teach future generations about civic leadership and participatory democracy.

School officials say the center’s goal is to strengthen the practice of participatory democracy, through teachings in shared governance, healthy debate and collaboration for a better, collective future. Ron Olson says practices like civility and disagreement without aggression are increasingly rare in today’s political climate, and he hopes the center will instill them in young people who could soon become the country’s political leaders.

Scott Raecker, co-founder of the public democracy center and executive director of the Robert D. and Billie Ray Center, said the gift will be spread out across all areas of the center’s programming, from scholarships to programming both within the center and to engage other areas of campus to travel opportunities and bringing guests to Des Moines to interact with students. Funds will also go toward constructing a physical space for the center on campus.

The gift puts the university’s campus-wide fundraising campaign over $200 million. The Ones Campaign has a goal of raising $225 million to increase student access and opportunity, fund capital projects, enrich programs and more.