It’s been a stormy presidential election season, with candidates in both parties thundering their way toward a November showdown.
Baldwin Wallace University is chasing the political storm with two programs designed not only to teach students and citizens about the election process but to invite them into the hurricane.
In an internship program by the Washington Center, college students from around the United States and Baldwin Wallace, gathered last month at the Berea campus to learn about political conventions. Then they attended the Republican National Convention in Cleveland as unpaid interns, working with various organizations, including media outlets and security teams.
Also, Baldwin Wallace is organizing a Voices of Democracy speaker series, featuring a conversation next month with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Van Jones, President Barack Obama’s former special adviser for green jobs. In a separate event, German government representatives will discuss their views of American democracy in action.
The purpose of these programs is to increase voter turnout through education and participation.
“We think it’s important for people to be involved in the election process and know that their vote counts,” says John Lanigan, dean of the Baldwin Wallace School of Business. “Higher voter turnout is a better reflection of voter views and values.”
Unconventional internships
In past years, Baldwin Wallace has participated in internship programs by the Washington Center, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that brings college students to the nation’s capital every year. Interns live in Washington, work for a member of Congress, government agency or nonprofit and earn academic credits in the process.
Every four years, the center sends interns to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. When the Republican National Committee announced that Cleveland would host its 2016 convention, the center asked Baldwin Wallace to house its interns.
The program had special relevance this year, as controversy swirled around the Republican convention. The Washington Center wanted to make the convention a meaningful experience for students by asking some profound questions about the tumult.
“How has this happened, and what is the impact on voters, on the party, on the country?” asks Kevin Nunley, vice president of student affairs at the Washington Center. “What does it mean moving forward, and how does it shape [students’] futures and their country’s future?”
The center’s interns stayed in Baldwin Wallace dorms. They arrived a week before the convention and left the day after it ended.
In exchange, the center and the Cleveland Foundation funded scholarships for 12 Baldwin Wallace students and another 12 students from Cuyahoga Community College to take part in the internship program at the convention. The scholarships covered their entire $4,700 program fee.
Bob Eckardt, executive vice president with the Cleveland Foundation, says his nonprofit has worked with the Washington Center in the past, giving scholarships to local students for the D.C. internships. Awarding scholarship money for the RNC was a no-brainer.
“When we understood the program and the possibility for students to get fully engaged, and to understand the convention and how it works, it seemed like a great opportunity,” Eckardt says.
Forty Baldwin Wallace students applied for scholarships. Not all were political science majors.
“They could have been in any major, as long as they had an interest,” says Tom Sutton, political science professor at Baldwin Wallace. “We had business, communications and criminal justice majors in the program.”
For the first four days of the internship, the Washington Center lined up local political and campaign leaders to speak to students, Sutton says.
Then it turned interesting. Students were assigned to work the convention with various organizations. Students eying careers in journalism were paired with local and national news organizations. One even interned with “The Daily Show.”
“They saw the convention through the eyes of media, security staff and state delegations,” Sutton says.
Scholarship recipient Simone Malone, entering her junior year at Baldwin Wallace this fall, interned with Talk News Media, which provides national and world news to more than 400 radio stations across the United States, according to TNM’s website.
“I’m very grateful because I recognize this was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and the cost would have been completely out of my means,” Malone says.
Sutton also says Baldwin Wallace has been emphasizing the once-in-a-lifetime concept to students.
“The last national political convention in Cleveland was in 1936,” Sutton says. “We probably won’t see it again for years to come, so it wasn’t about partisan politics, it was about seeing how the president of the United States is chosen.”
Other Baldwin Wallace students, in addition to the scholarship winners, headed to the RNC. Nine students were honorary members of the Ohio delegation. Another nine helped run the internship program, setting up on-campus seminars and making sure interns had transportation to and from the convention.
Points of View
The Voices of Democracy speaker series will address issues related to democracy during this election year. The series has plenty of firepower so far.
Gingrich and Jones, scheduled to appear Sept. 29, will talk about how the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates might affect the business community if they are elected, and how the candidates would deal with the economy.
Both Gingrich and Jones are members of the Worldwide Speakers Group, headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. Baldwin Wallace asked them about eight months ago to speak here.
“For Newt, he really enjoys being on campuses and speaking to college students,” Lanigan says.
Lanigan, speaking to Community Leader before the Republican convention, says Gingrich might not appear if is he is chosen the party’s vice presidential candidate, as has been suggested.
Lanigan says the university scheduled the Gingrich-Jones session after the conventions and before the November election because, by then, the candidates will have been chosen and both will have made plenty of speeches.
“I’m thinking [Gingrich and Jones] will have a lot to talk about,” Lanigan says.
Gingrich and Jones won’t come inexpensively. But the public can attend the discussion at no cost.
In mid-October, local citizens can hear what foreign governments think about the U.S. presidential election. A delegation from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government will visit the campus and take part in a panel discussion with Baldwin Wallace political science instructors.
Lanigan says that, in a world that is constantly changing in terms of economics, politics and, unfortunately, terrorism, it’s becoming increasingly important for the United States to work with other countries to create understanding and tolerance.
“The rest of the world looks to our country for leadership and wonders what direction we will go,” Lanigan says. “It will be interesting to hear from a close ally what they think about the two candidates.”
The speaker series won’t end after the election. In March, John Quiñones, ABC news correspondent and host of, “What Would You Do?,” will appear. He will talk about changing ethics and attitudes when it comes to candidate behavior and discourse.
Wonder which candidate sparked that discussion? Stay tuned — it might be a different candidate next week.