Roosevelt hits ground running

Author: Scott Greene

Middlebury's chapter of The Roosevelt Institution rode a wave of momentum into the semester following a successful summer of policy work with the national organization in New York City and Washington, D.C., which included the publishing of a second policy review and the hosting of a national policy exposition. The chapter, founded during February Orientation in 2005, said it hopes to build on its summer success and continue its work as a student-run, progressive policy think tank.

"This summer I worked in the national headquarters, which moved back from California to the east coast and set up shop in New York," said Jessica Singleton '08.5, founding President of Middlebury's chapter who now works as the national organization's Chapter Media Consultant.

Joined by seven other Middlebury students, Singleton and other members of Roosevelt's national organization published the second edition of The Roosevelt Review, an annual policy journal reflecting a year's worth of progressive thinking from chapters across the country. They also hosted a national policy exposition featuring 21 student-fellows from the Roosevelt Institution, a "policy meeting of the minds," which attracted press coverage from CNN.com, the U.S. State Department and Politics T.V.

"This summer we had 30 full-time staff in New York City and Washington, D.C. working 14 hour days, seven days a week for the organization and most of us weren't being paid," Singleton said. "It was a very intense summer but very healthy and productive in terms of institutional development and growth."

The Middlebury chapter's founding students believe that the organization, originally founded nationwide in November 2004, would allow its participants to actively work towards a more responsible democracy. Policy Coordinator Tarsi Dunlop '09 hopes that the progressive organization will create a society that engages in "active, participator and deliberative self-governance in public, and in private and civic institutions as well."

Chapter President Jamie Fallon '09 agreed. "[This summer] I really got a feel for just how large and unified our organization is," he said. "The institution is growing in numbers and credibility as more and more politically conscious students join. They are the reason Roosevelt Institution is a credible and far-reaching organization that garners so much attention."

Singleton, Fallon and Dunlop expect Roosevelt's summer progress to carry over as the institution unveils a new direction, highlighted by The Roosevelt Challenges.

The Roosevelt Institution's website, www.rooseveltinstitution.org, challenges members and college students in general to "reduce our dependence on foreign, harmful and unsustainable energy," "build an America that works for working families," and "increase socio-economic diversity in higher education."

Determined over the summer at both the national policy exposition and the chapter's plenary session at the Hyde Park Conference, the challenges provide the organization with a foundation and aim for the coming year. "Three purposefully broad but specific enough challenges were created by Roosevelt fellows across the country so that Roosevelt fellows could try and find solutions to the challenges," Singleton explained in describing the initiative. "They are all inter-disciplinary and have a lot of potential."

The Roosevelt Challenges will guide the Middlebury chapter's curriculum this fall and into the spring. All of the institution's policy centers have already met, including the Center for International Affairs, whose members attended the U.S. Congressional debate hosted at the College on Tuesday Night.

In addition, the Center for Women and Gender will work this fall with U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy with specific regard to the "working families" challenge. In the spring, Roosevelt's Center on the Environment hopes to host a regional policy exposition at Middlebury.

"Roosevelt at Middlebury is strong and I think it's nice to see where we were and where we are now," Singleton said. "Very passionate and smart and good people can come together and work toward a common cause, and using government as a tool to improve people's lives and designing policy in that vein is really special on its own but the secondary effect is that it becomes something that people are proud to be associated with. It's an important part of the progressive movement and I'm glad that Middlebury can add to that."

Additional reporting by Thomas Phillips.