McGovern, Matthews Among IOP Fellows

A former nominee for president, an Indian human rights leader and several Campaign 2000 insiders were among the list of fall 2001 fellows announced by the Institute of Politics (IOP) on Wednesday.

The IOP’s visiting fellows are Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s “Hardball,” former U.S. Senator and 1972 Democratic presdiential nominee George McGovern, and Mario Draghi, former director-general of the Italian Treasury.

This semester’s resident fellows are Matt Bai, a Newsweek national correspondent, Joe Cari, a Democratic Party fundraiser, Mike Murphy, a Republican political consultant, Jayanthi Natarajan, a former member of India’s Parliament and a party leader for the Tamil Maanila Congress Part from 1997 to 2001, and Beth Nolan, former counsel to President Clinton from 1999 to 2001.

“They are a very impressive class of fellows, very student-oriented, very enthusiastic,” said Jennifer Phillips, the IOP’s fellows coordinator. “[They] offer a richness in topic and expression.”

Each of the resident fellows as well as Draghi will hold weekly study groups for students, covering the areas of their respective expertise.

“If you have an interest in politics, communication, or strategy, I think you’ll find it a very interesting study group,” said Mike Murphy of his group, “Winning Against All Odds: Inside Dark Horse Campaigns.”

Matthews, who will be at the IOP Oct. 23 to 25, and McGovern, who will be at the IOP Nov. 12 to 14, will each make two or three well-publicized appeareances, said IOP Director David Pryor.

IOP leaders said they hope the study groups will attract students by offering informal discussions with fellows and special guests—there will be no assignments and attendance will be optional.

“Study groups offer everything people like about classes without the things people dread,” said Robert F. McCarthy ’02, student president of the IOP.

Two groups, Bai’s “Turning the Page: Reporters and Politicians in a New Era” and Joe Cari’s “Money and Politics,” will be held in Quincy House and Lowell House, respectively, as part of the institute’s new push to increase undergraduate involvement.

Pryor encouraged students to attend the fellows’ study groups.

“To get people like this to pull up stakes and come to Cambridge for three months is pretty amazing,” Pryor said. “We just hope people will take advantage of it.”

Most study groups have met in the past week, and student interest and attendance has been strong at these first sessions, Pryor said.

Murphy said about 50 people came to his group’s first meeting.

“We had a full house,” Murphy said. “[But] it was still small enough to be informal.”