Category: Policy and Governance
Opportunities, not obstacles
By Anisha Mudaliar, ’15 (Economics)
In February of my freshman year, I had a chance to sit around a table with former Senator Russ Feingold and other students in Stanford in Government (SIG) to discuss the US’s responsibility to engage in sub-Saharan Africa. As former Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on African Affairs, Senator Feingold shared with us the nuances and challenges of US policy in Africa as we delved into case studies ranging from diplomatic efforts to create an independent South Sudan to the use of military force in Uganda. Through this experience, among many others with SIG—including hearing from global leaders like Kofi Annan and Al Gore—I have had the opportunity to gain deeper insights into the role of policy as a tool to effect change at a large-scale level.
SIG has exposed me to the intricacies of the policy-making process, not only through discussion seminars and speaking events, but also through real-world applications of my learning through a SIG Fellowship with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). SIG has established a range of fellowships in public service and policy around the world in institutions like RBI, the California Department of Education, NYC Economic Development Corporation, and UN High Commission on Refugees. At the core of these opportunities is the belief that individuals—and especially young individuals like ourselves—have the power to engage with policy and wrestle with some of our world’s toughest challenges. SIG has encouraged me to see the enormity of these challenges not as obstacles, but as opportunities—opportunities to learn, work, and serve alongside others to contribute to a more just and sustainable world.
Lobbying for human rights
By Jared Naimark, ’14 (Earth Systems)
In 2013, I led an Alternative Spring Break (ASB) trip to Washington D.C. After teaching a 10-week course to 12 fellow undergraduates on international human rights advocacy with my co-leader Emily Witt, we set off for a week-long exploration of our nation’s capital. We met with eight different nonprofit advocacy organizations and one government agency and engaged their staff in provocative discussions centered around the question: How can we get more people to care about international human rights and take action without oversimplifying the causes of or solutions to violent conflict?
With these discussions in mind, our group set off for Capitol Hill. We were nervous and tired, and most of us had never been in a lobby meeting before. But we put on our best clothes, reviewed our notes, and stepped into the congressional offices with confidence. We asked for the US to cut military aid to Rwanda which had been supporting abusive insurgent groups in Eastern Congo, and also asked for human rights benchmarks to be met before the US resumed military to military relations with Burma’s armed forces. After these lobby meetings, our trip was over, but our group’s commitment to transforming human rights advocacy was just beginning. Empowered by the notion that elected officials would actually care what a group of college students thought about human rights, our group was inspired to take what we learned on our trip and apply it to a diverse range of public service causes and pathways.
