IOP Selects Yearly Fellows To Lead Study Groups

Ralph Nader’s campaign manager, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and an advisor to President John F. Kennedy ’40 were among those named this semester’s resident fellows at the Institute of Politics (IOP).

The fellows, announced last week, will address issues ranging from health insurance to the criminal justice system to the future of U.S.-Mexico relations in their weekly study groups, which are open to Harvard undergraduates.

Theodore Sorensen acted as policy advisor, legal counsel and speech writer for Kennedy for 11 years.

Since 1966, Sorensen has been practicing international law at a private firm in New York City.

Sorensen’s study group, entitled “American Leadership in a Time of Crisis,” will cover crisis descision making on the federal level and will draw on his own experience with events like the Cuban Missile Crisis.

His wife, Gillian Martin Sorensen, assistant secretary general for external relations at the United Nations, also an IOP fellow, will be leading a study group focusing on the U.N., its role in world affairs, its history and its participation in issues like humanitarian relief.

Theresa Amato ’86, Ralph Nader’s campaign manager for his 2000 campaign, is also the president of two Washington, D.C. based advocacy groups—Citizen Works and the Citizen Advocacy Center. Amato will be discussing “taking on the system and mobilizing for justice.”

Amato said that she is interested in the relationship between community service and public service and that her study groups will be held in Phillips Brooks House.

“I’m always interested in recruiting and training activists,” she said.

Stuart Butler, currently the vice president for domestic and economic policy studies at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Referring to his conservative politics, he said he is looking forward to “being in an environment where everyone does not think the same way.”

Butler said his study group will focus on health care policy, including Medicare.

“Underneath all the political noise, there’s actually a consensus of reasonable people,” Butler said.

Former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Zambia, and Venezuela, Jeffrey Davidow will lead a study group on the future of U.S.-Mexico relations.

Davidow, a 30-year State Department veteran, will focus on issues such as trade, migration, and drugs.

Former District Attorney for Los Angeles County Gil Garcetti will be talking about the “interaction of the criminal justice system with race, politics and the media” in his study group. Garcetti also said he will discuss a few of the high profile cases that fell under his jurisdiction when he served as district attorney between 1992 and 2000.

Garcetti said that he hopes to inspire young people to pursue “at least partial careers” in public service, and that he has been impressed with the “talent, energy, and commitment of everyone at the IOP.”

In addition to its resident fellows, the IOP has also named two visiting fellows for the semester.

Susan Hirschmann, a former chief-of-staff to House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, was the highest ranking female staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hirschmann will lead events at the IOP during the last two weeks of October.

Jim Wallis, editor of Sojourners Magazine, will also be at the IOP in October.

“They’re a good, interesting group of people who represent a lot of different experiences with politics,” said Fellows Program Coordinator Jennifer Phillips.

Like Amato, Phillips said she is interested in exploring the relationship between community service and public service, and she is looking forward to seeing the fellows tackle this issue.

The fellows program will be holding an open house for students interested in study groups next Wednesday from 5-7 in Loker Commons.