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The Dartmouth
July 8, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Legislative Learning Should Count

Last term, a group of 16 Dartmouth students descended on Washington. Many of us had never met before the program and little did we know that spending 10 weeks of a beautiful spring in the District would bring us so close.

The first thing that had piqued my interest about the Government Foreign Study Program in Washington, D.C., was the internship component. Working in our nation's capital seemed like the perfect way to learn about public policy, masquerading as a Washington insider by day and returning to the dorm as a lowly student by night.

Five days a week, I worked from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Democratic office of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where I drafted memos, conducted research and attended hearings, among other tasks.

These duties took me throughout the Capitol, where I once walked past a dejected Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., who was probably thinking about his competitor in the Democratic primary (I didn't say anything to him, of course). One of my classmates shared a 30-second conversation with Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., about how their respective days were going in a Senate subway car en route to the Capitol.

The weekly seminars led by our Dartmouth professor put the future of political parties into perspective for me. I learned a great deal about the future directions of political parties in class and at work. While it was a great seminar, the gains from any more time in class would have been marginal.

That is not a knock on the effectiveness of seminars or the professor, but rather a vote of confidence for the value of experiential learning. Alex Middleton '06, a 2005 FSP participant, said that "there's a lot to be said for learning by doing, and any Washington program that neglects it would be lacking."

Is there any better and more practical way to learn about the American political system than living and working in our nation's capital? I'm just disappointed that students next year won't be able to have that experience.

Much of the backlash has come from current sophomores and juniors, who assign the blame for the program's cancellation to poor judgment on the part of the Committee on Off-Campus Activities and the Off-Campus Programs office -- and rightfully so. COCA's excuse for shutting down a reputable program that had been running for over 30 years is that there was an inherent inconsistency between the internship focus of the FSP and the College's policy of not granting credit for experiential learning. Officials at COCA essentially believe too much time is spent at the internship and not enough time is spent in class.

If this is the ultimate justification for cancelling the program, then COCA and the College's policy are severely misguided. The FSP seminar was more effective than a class taken on campus and the internship component made the program more interactive than any lecture. While I'm not suggesting the College give credit for internships, it should at least begin recognizing the value of experiential learning in a liberal arts environment. In an ideal situation, COCA would accept the FSP for what it was: a cutting-edge program that allowed students to learn in multiple ways.

The overall handling of the situation was disappointing as well. As offices that deal with students' futures, COCA and OCP could have made a clearer statement that the FSP was cancelled, as soon as their decision was final. The lack of immediate notice was unacceptable.

Not only did students feel betrayed by the cancellation of the FSP, they were also upset because the timing of the announcement didn't give them a chance to alter their plans.

As for "fixing" the program, reducing one day of work per week from the internship and dedicating that day for class could be effective. However, that would take away from the internship experience, as it no longer resembles an everyday job -- which should be one of the goals of the internship.

But maybe a compromise is in order, because having a modified program is better than not having a program at all.