President, Priest, Prison Guard Among IOP Fellows

The former prime minister of Finland, the ex-president of Ecuador, a former campaign manager for John McCain and a key government healthcare policy-maker are among the fellows at the Institute of Politics (IOP) this fall.

Esko Aho, who became the youngest Finnish Prime Minister in the country's history at the age of 36 in 1991, will join Jamil Mahuad, who just finished his term as Equador's president. Former McCain aide Rick Davis, Medicare chief Nancy Ann DeParle, former congressional representative and Vietnam War protestor Father Robert Drinan and investigative journalist Ted Conover will also lead student study groups that begin next week.

IOP Director David Pryor, a former senator from Arkansas, said he hopes this year's fellows will show students on what public life is like.

"We look for fellows who will bring everyday experiences," he said yesterday. "Students receive ample book training. We want to bring them into contact with people who have real-life experiences in public life."

Aho has been active in Norwegian politics since 1983 when he became a member of the Finnish parliament, and has, since 1990, led Finland's Centre Party.

As the prime minister who led Finland into the European Union, Aho will lead a study group on the birth of the E.U. and its potential impact on global politics and the economy.

Mahuad, the Equadorian politician, served as Mayor of Quito for six years before his presidency. He will head a study group on "Latin American Politics, Leadership, and the Effects of a Global Economy."

A managing partner of the political consulting group Davis Manafort, Davis recently coordinated John McCain's presidential campaign and for years has been a political consultant since 1980, when he worked for Ronald Reagan. He was Senator Robert Dole's deputy campaign manager in the 1996 presidential campaign.

Davis said he intends to use the current election as a case study for his forum on "Media and Political Campaigns."

"I'm really excited to be really able to take something fresh and convey those experiences to the students, and I hope to impart to them the importance of political activism," he said.

DeParle is a fellow jointly sponsored by the Harvard University Health Care Policy Forum and the IOP. She headed the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, Medicaid and State Children's Health insurance Program.

DeParle will hold weekly one-and-half hour sessions on "Health Care and the Uninsured and Reforming Medicare."

Drinan, a Jesuit priest, former Massachusetts Congressional representative and national figure in the Vietnam War protests, gave up politics when the Pope asked him to choose between his priesthood and his public office. Drinan is now a professor of law at Georgetown University Law Center and lectures throughout the country on human rights issues.

Father Drinan's study group will be called "Religion and Politics."

Writer Ted Conover has authored such books as Newjack, Whiteout and Coyote and regularly contributes to the New Yorker Magazine and The New York Times Magazine. For Newjack, his recent bestseller, Conover took a job as a prison guard at New York's Sing Sing Prison in order to write an investigative look behind the walls of that famed correctional facility.

Aptly, Conover's study group will focus on the state of affairs of prisons in the U.S.

Students played a role in choosing the public figures invited to be fellows at the IOP this fall. In response to requests from student volunteers with the Prisoner Education Group, a Phillips Brooks House organization, IOP extended a fellowship invitation to Conover to lead a discussion group on the policy and politics of American prisons. And growing student interest in healthcare policy brought HCFA administrator to the IOP as a fellow.

"This is the best group of fellows we've had in recent years," said Rob F. McCarthy '02, the Fellows program study groups chair, "due to the sheer extent and range of their life experiences."

Hannah Choi '01, Chair of IOP's Student Advisory Committee, praised the fellows.

"There is a good mix of international and domestic public figures in this fall's Fellows program," she said. "They're dynamic, and they have a great sense of humor."

Besides the fellows, each week every study group will also feature a guest speaker. For Davis' study session, McCain is scheduled to be one of the guest speakers.

An open-house on September 28 at 7 p.m. in the Ticknor Lounge in Boylston will introduce the fellows and allow students to sign up for the study groups in which they are interested. The seven-week long study groups will start October 9 and meet weekly at the IOP.