Capitol Hill internships remain a coveted prize for many of Dartmouth's aspiring politicos, but starting next fall, the Rockefeller Center will give students another way to cut their political teeth. Through a "legislative research shop" run by Rocky, students will conduct public policy research for state government officials in Vermont and New Hampshire.
The Rockefeller Center will pay students to research a range of issues for state legislators, who by their own admission often lack the resources needed to make informed decisions on the complex legislation they evaluate daily. Rocky will not charge the lawmakers for the services the students provide.
Vermont state senator and Rocky consultant Matt Dunne helped design the program with Linda Fowler, the Center's current Director. Dunne affirmed that small states like Vermont and New Hampshire do "very little research, yet the complexity of policy decisions has grown dramatically over the last ten years."
He noted that legislators in Vermont and New Hampshire from both parties "have expressed a strong interest in receiving more objective research around policy issues and welcome the news of Dartmouth students getting involved in providing that kind of research."
Rocky will begin selecting students for the research shop this term and plans to have them begin background research in the fall. Dunne said a full-time post doctoral fellow will oversee the daily operations of the shop, and incoming Rockefeller Center Director Andrew Samwick will guide its activities and its partnership with the legislatures.
At first, the research shop will focus on a limited number of public policy issues, including education, the environment and, funding permitting, health care.
"Eventually, when we are at full capacity, we will be able to tackle an even wider spectrum of issues, but we want to make sure we keep our focus until we have been able to deliver quality research products," said Dunne.
The research shop will also limit its focus to aiding state legislators until it can expand its focus to include issues that might more directly impact local governments. "We are trying to keep our focus on the initial core mission, which is the state legislators," Dunne said. "We are also planning on distributing the research that we find through the National Conference of State Legislatures to help inform other states, particularly rural states, of the substance of our findings."
Fowler said in an interview with the Associated Press that the research shop will provide students with more substantive experience than Capitol Hill internships in which interns typically perform menial tasks.
"Part of our mission is to encourage students to be involved in our communities and to aspire to public service, and this really provides them with very practical experience, and the sense of having their efforts matter," Fowler said.
The Rocky legislative shop finds its precedent at the University of Vermont, where students have researched a variety of issues, including medical marijuana and the length of gubernatorial terms.
