Roosevelt Institution ignites student dialogue

Author: Jack Lysohir

The Roosevelt Institution's Middlebury Chapter hosted over 100 students and faculty for its kickoff event last Thursday evening. The event celebrated the official launch of Roosevelt's Middlebury Chapter, which was founded last spring. It was held in the Robert A. Jones '59 House and included a performance by the Middlebury Jazz Band as well as speeches from two distinguished guests from outside of Middlebury.

Emcee and Executive Director of the Roosevelt Institution's Middlebury Chapter Alex Garlick '08.5 was in high spirits. "It was outstanding that we didn't just have members of the student body, but also distinguished members of the community such as state legislators," he said. "This shows that our message is being received by a broader population."

Faculty in attendance included members from the Political Science, History and Economics Departments.

Event co-chair Abigail Blum '08 said, "I was really pleased with the turnout."

The Roosevelt Institution was founded in November 2004 following the U.S. Presidential Elections. Dismayed by what they perceived as a lack of dialogue on important issues, students from Stanford, Yale, Bates and Middlebury began discussing ways to widen their involvement in the political process. The Roosevelt Institution is the fruit of their brainstorming - it is the first-ever student-run think tank.

Today the rapidly growing Roosevelt Institution exists in nearly 100 colleges and universities and has received national attention from media outlets such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post. Like other think tanks, Roosevelt plans to research domestic and international issues, articulate policies and disseminate its work throughout Washington.

Official Roosevelt literature reads, "Colleges are effectively think tanks, they are just not effective think tanks." The novelty of using college students as thinkers provides Roosevelt with impressive resources. The Institution counts millions of college students as potential researchers and scholars, each one brimming with energy. A political science major's lengthy senior thesis may now go on to become part of an article published in the Roosevelt Review, the Institution's quarterly of about 10 articles, instead of lying dormant in the file cabinets of Munroe.

Roosevelt's present challenge is to organize the many college minds into an efficient national think tank. It has adopted a strategy in which each college or university's chapter is treated individually, and within each there exists multiple policy centers. These policy centers will address particular issues and work to formulate strong policy in those fields. Currently Middlebury has five policy centers: The Center on Education, The Center on International Affairs, The Center on the Environment, The Center on Governmental Reform and The Center on Social Justice.

"Roosevelt's operating model gives us lots of flexibility in determining which centers to host, and we will adopt more [centers] if the interest in running them is there," said Jessie Singleton '08.5, president of the Roosevelt Institution's Middlebury chapter.

Although founded in the wake of President Bush's re-election, the Roosevelt Institution claims not to be liberal. "Not left or right but forward," is the official Roosevelt wording, and thus the Institution has been given non-partisan tax-exempt status. Like President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and President Teddy Roosevelt before them, members of the Roosevelt Institution strive toward progressive politics, which are today often associated with liberal Democrats, but the Roosevelt Institution leans towards good government - a leaning that should transcend party lines.

Maine Senator Ethan Strimling, (D-Cumberland) was the first of two keynote speakers at the kick-off event. Strimling mused on the ability of Republicans to build a strong political base, and the inability of the Democrats to create such a base. A firm believer in the abilities of students, Strimling sees the Institution's strength in its capacity to help dig a greater foundation for progressive causes.

Professor Emeritus of American History at Yale University John Morton Blum was the second keynote speaker. Blum, having been introduced as one of President Bush's professors at Yale, began with the quip, "I assure you that Bush never came to class."

He spoke about progressivism as being the truly thoughtful approach to politics as well as progressivism's deep roots in American democracy.

Singleton ended the night with a speech stressing the importance of the Roosevelt Institution. Beaming with the successes of the night, she remarked that "we [college students] were tired of helping candidates by giving them our time and our energy, when we could be helping the country with our ideas."

The Roosevelt Institution's future at Middlebury seems bright. Nearly 200 students have expressed interest. The five policy centers are meeting on a weekly basis, and Roosevelt's Web site, www.rooseveltinstitution.org, is updated daily.

Singleton thinks that last Thursday's event was only the beginning. "Everything thus far has been strictly preliminary. The event was indicative of what a good idea this is, and good ideas go far."