A progressive student-led policy think tank, the Roosevelt Institution is part of a national organization of students who aim to discuss public policy and increase student activism.
::
Following a successful first year on campus, the Hunter chapter of the Roosevelt Institution wants to develop a stronger and more effective organization to educate the Hunter community about pertinent policy issues.
As a progressive student-led policy think tank, RI is part of a national organization of students who aim to discuss public policy and increase student activism. The proposed release of its yet-to-be-named policy journal promises to be one of the biggest changes this year. “The journal will be published biannually beginning in the spring, 2009, most likely in February or March,” said Joe Eastman, 20, President of RI. “We will accept student submissions and publish around 25 an issue. The RI executive board and the Director of Publications will serve as the editorial board.”
Officers responsible for various policy issues are to work with students to publish journal submissions. Equal Justice and Human Rights Policy Center Director Ben Mejia, 20, said, “I have to help people who want to submit articles refine and edit their submissions and help improve their ideas.” Mejia, dressed in boots, jeans and T-shirt at the time of his interview, is a junior in the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter and is also in the Thomas Hunter Honors Program. He studies human rights, majors in psychology and minors in English.
In order to produce the publication, RI received a $6000 budget from the Hunter Media Board, a student governance body responsible for allocating student activity fees for publications. The funding is to be used primarily for printing costs but is also to include various related expenses.
The organization also received funding from the Undergraduate Student Government. USG, responsible for allocating Student Activity Fees to student organizations, approved a budget of $1500 for RI, an increase of $500 from its 2007-2008 fiscal year budget, according to the Hunter USG website. The funding is to be used almost entirely to fund several events the organization intends to host.
By hosting events on campus, RI officials hope to increase and maintain their membership. During RI’s first year, membership was not as high as desired, like many first-year student organizations. This year, approximately 30 to 35 students attend meetings, compared to the 5 or 15 during RI’s first year.
Long Tran, 20, a Macaulay Honors senior double majoring in political science and psychology, said, “Last year, RI held a couple of events and didn’t get a lot of sponsorships from other clubs. We’re a democratic organization and we realize [that] there are other public policy clubs that we’d like to engage with, like New York Public Interest Research Group.”
Tran, interviewed at the College’s Brookdale campus where he resides, is the Outreach Coordinator. He said he was responsible for reaching out to other student organizations to promote interest in public policy formulation on campus. Tran, dressed in sneakers, jeans, and a T-shirt, also said that RI wants to spark interests in organizations that do not have a public policy focus.
Eastman, a Macaulay Honors junior double majoring in political science and economics and a Brookdale dorm resident, said, “We will have a debate watching event in the coming weeks and [we] hope to present the [presidential] candidates’ policy positions to the Hunter population.”
Eastman, dressed in sneakers, jeans and a sweatshirt and interviewed at the Brookdale campus, also discussed plans to have a policy journal launch party during the spring. RI plans to organize a celebratory event to garner interest in the first issue of the journal and RI at-large. RI is also planning a discussion on an issue related to New York City public policy in late November or early December. RI hopes to have several elected officials participate.
Events Director Amanda D’Annucci, 21, who interned with the City’s Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services, said she “wanted more experience in the policy arena and thought RI would be a great stepping stone for a graduate career.” D’Annucci, interviewed at the Brookdale campus, said she was looking forward to the success of the events she was planning.
D’Annucci, a Macaulay Honors senior double majoring in urban studies and theater and a Brookdale dorm resident, said that expanding RI’s events would allow the club to prepare other students for similar careers. Although the previous year’s events were successful, D’Annucci said stronger programmatic offerings would greatly benefit the Hunter community. Last year’s events included a launch party for the chapter’s first year, an event on diversity and public policy, and a panel discussion on U.S. foreign policy towards China.
“We [will be] educating a lot of people about policy issues [in order] to help them form their own ideas,” said D’Annucci, dressed in jeans, sneakers and a sweatshirt.
The Hunter chapter is affiliated with the national Roosevelt Institution organization, a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 2004 by students at Yale and Stanford Universities. The national RI was inspired by the progressive legacies of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt and Teddy Roosevelt. Through its local chapters, RI seeks to educate students about public policy. In only four years, the organization has expanded to include over 70 chapters at colleges throughout the country. The Hunter chapter is one of three in the city; RI chapters are also at NYU and Columbia University.
Executive Director Nate Loewentheil is an important figure in the national organization. Not only was he one of the co-founders of the organization while at Yale University, he also has been instrumental in supporting the development of chapters nationwide, including working closely with Eastman in promoting the founding of the Hunter chapter. Loewentheil even spoke on campus during the 2007-2008 academic year on two occasions, an event sponsored by USG as well as at the RI diversity conference, according to the Hunter Envoy.
Despite the strong relationship with the national office, Eastman said that RI’s second year at Hunter would be much more independent. With RI as a much more established presence at Hunter, the RI chapter will need less assistance form the national office, which has suggested that its chapters focus on local political issues. The Hunter chapter is beginning to do this, but is to remain relatively conspicuous for the remainder of the year.
The national office is very open to ideas [from the chapters] but the policy ideas always come from the chapter while the national office does help organize [the chapters],” said Eastman.
In addition to this year’s events and the release of the policy journal, RI plans to continue to discuss and address policy issues. At RI’s general meetings, every Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Hunter West 407, RI “actually will talk about policy and have substance at these meetings,” said Eastman. “Attendees will break up into policy center groups, led by RI’s six policy center directors, to discuss issues [and then] return to the larger group to discuss the organization as a whole.”
Tran became interested in education policy following a course taught by Professor Joseph Viteritti whose class examined the education system of New York City. As the Policy Center Director for Education, one of the six policy centers of RI, he is “interested in first [sparking] students’ interests in education policy in New York City and then getting them to write a specific policy article for the RI journal,” said Tran. He said he was excited by the new meeting structure because “last year, meetings were really redundant. This year we are getting into more heated discussions. Clearly, there are more members this year [and] we are keeping their interests alive every time they walk into the club.”
Mejia, interviewed at the Brookdale campus where he resides, expects to collaborate closely with the education center this year and echoed Tran’s sentiments. Asked if more people are involved this year, Mejia replied, “Yes. Definitely. It is part of a conscious effort by Eastman to include more people. People are more interested to participate. By its nature, [RI] is a more egalitarian club than other clubs and people want to make use of that.”
Eastman said that the meeting format, new this year, was intended to increase student discussion of policy issues. Promoting continued membership has been the primary focus of the organization this year, according to Eastman, and has driven many of the changes and reforms the organization has undergone.
Alex Kohen can be reached at AlexKohen@gmail.com.