Roosevelt Institute needs you now

Author: Scott Greene '08.5

Our campus has numerous clubs and organizations for its students. They pertain to certain activities and draw students together, and all provide an outlet for students to expand on their non-scholastic interests. As a Feb, I have noticed this mobilization during my first month on campus. Middlebury students undoubtedly pride themselves on involvement, whether it be throuh a politically, socially, or culturally oriented club. However, I feel that our community lacks an adequate venue for students to express their opinions about the current state of affairs and then formulate solutions to some of these problems.

How else can we make an immediate impact outside the Middlebury community? How can we as students, as concerned citizens, as members of the world community and as participants in a pluralistic society, adequately influence the policy decisions that affect our lives? How can we positively affect change locally and nationally? Middlebury students now have such means with the forming of the Roosevelt Institution, the nation's first student-run progressive policy think tank.

Since forming at Stanford University immediately after last November's presidential election, the Roosevelt Institution has quickly spread across the country, with new branches opening at Yale, Columbia, University of Pennsylvania and many other schools.

The organization's non-partisan effort gives young minds the chance to express themselves and make a difference. Here on campus, the Roosevelt Institution will utilize many of the clubs already in place, and collaborate with them to produce progressive policies and make their voices heard.

However, the Middlebury chapter of the Roosevelt Institution is still in its infancy and has not yet been approved as an official organization on campus. It needs to gain credibility in the eye of the activity board's Constitutional Committee, and popular support is integral to obtaining this credibility. The students of Middlebury College, especially those frustrated with the current state of our country, need to have their voices heard.

If the Roosevelt Institution is approved and becomes an official organization, the students will have that ability, and the organization will undoubtedly flourish as it has on numerous other college campuses across the country. The Roosevelt Institution needs the popular support of the students to gain credibility. To not take advantage of such an opportunity, and to continue to suppress our ideas would be a disaster.