Symposium concludes semester-long Inside Politics program
By Hannah Sawyer
Staff Writer, The Gettysburgian
The Inside Politics Symposium, hosted on Tuesday afternoon by The Eisenhower Institute, represented the culmination of a semester's worth of hard work by the 16 pilot members of the Inside Politics group. The event featured presentations by each of the students on the extensive research projects which they conducted during their participation in the program.
The Eisenhower Institute describes Inside Politics as "a semester-long mentoring experience on campus and in Washington, D.C. designed for students from diverse academic disciplines."
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Participants are afforded the opportunity to explore the difference between the public's perception of Washington and the reality of Capitol Hill, and "each semester [the program] will bring a different expert to campus to work with a select group of Gettysburg College students."
The 16 members chosen to take part this fall included Andrew Arenge, Lawrese Brown, Henry DeSarno, Sebastian DiNatale, Daniel Dodge, Calynn Dowler, Alex Ferraro, Giovanni Gutierrez, Kurt Hagemann, Patrick Hughes, Kara Kemski, Beth Leamy, Steven Moxley, Meredith Risati, Kathryn Sanford and Marisa Tokarsky.
Guided by Kasey Pipes, journalist, speech writer and this semester's expert-in-residence, students conducted monthly political discussions, traveled to Washington where they met with Bob Dole, Fred Fielding, and several Gettysburg alumni working on Capitol Hill and carried out original research on topics of interest which arose during their study of Washington politics. From their research they created PowerPoints, websites, presentations, videos, and podcasts which they shared with Tuesday's audience and which will also be published on the Eisenhower Institute's website.
"We wanted kids to experience politics in a way that they can't in the classroom," said Pipes. "Leadership is one of the things we stressed throughout. We wanted them to think not only about politics but about life and the future. Our goal was to research how Washington really works, to get the story behind the story."
Sophomore Dan Dodge, who presented on political rumor, says that this program "seemed like the perfect opportunity to take advantage of our proximity to the nation's capitol and learn a little more about how politics work in Washington, D.C."
"Inside Politics has been a great program to get involved with. For my end of the semester project, I worked with two of my friends, Sebastian DiNatale and Henry De Sarno to create a trailer for the documentary that Sebastian and I are working on for our capstone project. We are evaluating the relationship between media and politics and ultimately trying to decide who sets the national agenda. The access that Inside Politics got us with politicians, media leaders, and historians was impeccable. We got to sit down for on camera interviews with Newsweek Columnist Howard Fineman, Former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Senior Editor at Politico David Mark and New York Times Opinions Columnist Bob Herbert," said senior Andrew Arenge.
A strong sense of self-motivation was required of the students because they received no grade or credit for their participation, but many who were involved felt that an insider look at Capitol Hill and the experience they gained were equally as valuable.
"Inside Politics offered me a great deal of freedom to research exactly what I wanted. It takes a lot of discipline to research and write when you know you won't receive a grade, and I think that discipline will serve me well in the future," said senior Stephen Moxley.
Senior Calynn Dowler, who compared levels of political knowledge among various countries, said that the research project also presented a chance to develop practical skills such as "creating, distributing, and tabulating survey results, which I hadn't done before."
Dodge added that it was an exercise in analytical skill, saying that he developed "the ability to look behind what is presented on the surface in news coverage of politics."
According to Moxley, the students benefitted from the group atmosphere: "The diversity of topics that the group came up with was great. I think that's unique to Inside Politics. Hearing others discuss their projects gave me a better understanding of what students find most interesting about their government."
The mentorship of Pipes who has first-hand experience in Washington and has worked with a number of prominent politicians, including George W. Bush, was another beneficial resource.
"Plenty of people have book knowledge, but his inside experience is hard to find," says Moxley.
Moxley, who looked at political censorship and technology, in particular, internet censorship, is already making plans to use his findings to implement changes in public policy: "I've summarized my research in the form of a policy proposal that I will be sending to various Representatives, Senators, Congressional committees, and think tanks in the coming days. In the long run, I'm considering starting a non-profit to research similar issues with the aim of producing two to three policy proposals per year."
Many of the participants also have plans for the future use of their research in either their chosen career fields or as a basis of further study during their education.
"We are lucky to have an organization such as the Eisenhower Institute affiliated with our school, a public policy center that gives students the chance to meet with prominent figures and discuss the inner workings of our government," says Dodge.
Students who are interested in participating in the program can learn more about it here. Applications for next semester are also available with a submission deadline of Friday, January 8.