Students Participate in Inaugural Kennedy Senate Simulation

Almost 100 graduate and undergraduate Harvard students participated in the inaugural Kennedy Senate Simulation, a simulation of U.S. Senate activities hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School and the Institute of Politics in Boston Friday.

The Kennedy School students who organized the event began planning for it last September when they noticed HKS had no simulation programs or competitions comparable to those offered at Harvard Law School, according to Michael Thng, one of the event organizers.

During the simulation, which was held at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute—a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the Senate and civic engagement—participants considered two pieces of proposed legislation while acting as U.S. senators.

Participants held committee hearings and party caucuses, where they discussed and amended actual bills that were introduced to the Senate in 2015: the Defend America Act and the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.

The day culminated in a much-awaited Senate Floor debate in the Institute’s to-scale representation of the U.S. Senate Chambers. There, the amended bills were put up for separate votes, with only the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act of 2015 mustering the 51 votes necessary to become law.

Professor Steve J. Jarding, who currently teaches courses in media training and campaign management at the Kennedy School, used his closing remarks to emphasize the importance of learning to compromise as a politician, challenging participants to work together.

Echoing Jarding’s sentiment, many “Republican Senators” said they were proud of the day’s overall bipartisan effort and both sides congratulated each other on enacting at least one of the two bills, despite some disappointment over their failure to pass both.

“It’s very enlightening,” said Arohi Sharma, a Kennedy School graduate student who played the Majority Leader from Kentucky, Republican Mitch McConnell. “It shows the level of compromise needed to pass legislation and the kind of leadership that politicians must embrace to propel change.”

Theodora M. Skeadas ’12, playing the Minority Whip Democrat Dick Durbin, agreed, but also noted that the display of bipartisanship did not necessarily reflect today's reality.

“People voted across the aisle, but the Senators they were representing normally wouldn’t,” Skeadas said. “The good communication between parties occurred because most of us are friends and are mostly one-sided politically.”

Even so, the simulation proved to be educational, participants said. Jarding encouraged the students to view the simulation as preparation for their future potential roles in politics and public policy.