Student researchers who want to contribute their talents to benefit the community through service now have the opportunity to do so. This year, Davidson welcomes its chapter of The Roosevelt Institution, a non-profit, non-partisan national student think-tank based in Washington D.C.
The organization was founded five years ago and boasts chapters at nearly 80 colleges and universities around the country. Members carry out policy research on important regional and local political issues, including defense and diplomacy, energy and environment, economic development, health care, equal justice and education.
Nick Carney ’11 and Matt De Niear ’11 started Davidson’s chapter last semester, but because both are abroad this semester, John Morgan ’12 and co-president Iain Addleton ’12 are now responsible for the organization.
Davidson’s chapter of The Roosevelt Institution is chartered under United Community Action (UCA) because of its focus on service and local community issues.
“Davidson is already an incredibly active campus, a national leader in community service and activism,” Morgan said. “What we hope to do is fill a void in student ideas behind all that service, where we take ownership of our projects in the community with our own proposals. There’s so much energy on this campus and in this community as a whole that I anticipate a truly integrated effort from Roosevelt here.”
“We can pool together so many talents, combining both the academic and service-oriented resources at Davidson,” Morgan continued. “In the larger area, I look forward to the opportunity for working with leaders and policy makers to bend regional initiatives in a progressive light.”
Why not just let the professionals do this? “Davidson kids, for one, provide a unique perspective to community issues here, since we come from so many different backgrounds,” Morgan said. “We’ve all seen different ways of doing things at a community level. When it comes to writing tomes of legislation, let the folks do it who get paid for it. When it comes to local, service-oriented policy, we can find a special niche. We can get on the ground and connect with folks in ways the paid professionals in Washington, or in Charlotte, can’t quite do the same.”
Throughout this first semester, the chapter hopes to establish a presence on campus and “build relationships with community leaders and organizations,” Morgan said. “Ideally, we’d like to get through at least one policy memo that centers on Davidson’s involvement with the community – maybe even something that’s already going on with student groups.”
At the Roosevelt Institution’s first meeting last week, student leaders emphasized that because this is the chapter’s first year on campus, members will have the opportunity to decide the direction of the organization and make a strong impact.
The chapter’s organizational structure is concentric, meaning that a core group of members will pick one issue to focus on and then branch out into the community to involve people at varying degrees through event planning, research, writing policy briefs or activism.
Students interested in getting involved or reading more about the Institute can visit rooseveltcampusnetwork.org.
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