Capital Steps

For some students, Sept. 11 changed everything. Others refused to let it.

Thirty Bruin undergrads had spent weeks just waiting for the moment they would fly to the nation’s capital. Each had been chosen — through a highly selective screening process — to fill one of the coveted spots in UCLA’s Quarter in Washington Program.

Then terror struck.

“The morning of the World Trade Center attacks, I remember thinking: ‘Hmm, I might not be going to Washington — who knows what’s going to happen?’” recalls Matthew Lunder ’02, a political science major, who was preparing for an internship with the Democratic National Committee. “As I watched news coverage of the Pentagon crash site, I thought, ‘Will they be able to deal with whatever’s coming down the pike with all the students here?’ I was afraid the program might be canceled.”

Administrators, however, were determined the program would continue. All 30 UCLA students showed up: prepared to learn, ready to participate and eager to witness history in the making. In the end, UCLA’s Quarter in Washington, the oldest and most rigorous program of its kind in the UC system, took on greater meaning.

“At first, you’re hit really hard, but you start moving on in your life, in a much different way than when we first came here,” says political science major Jeanine Percival ’02, who interned at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “We were living in a place that got attacked and talking to people who were victims. Our perspective changed 180 degrees.”

Administered by UCLA’s Center for American Politics and Public Policy, the Quarter in Washington Program, now in its 12th year, provides undergraduates with a full-credit academic quarter plus an internship every fall and spring in a branch of the federal government, a congressional committee, museum, think tank, advocacy group or other organization. The students use that experience for an original research project, which they present at the end of the 11-week period.

In past years, students have examined flaws with law-enforcement databases for DNA evidence, federal compliance with environmental mandates and welfare reform, among many other subjects. This year, several of the students’ research projects were influenced by Sept. 11.

History major Matthew Straite ’01, who interned with the National Building Museum, researched the viability of skyscrapers in the 21st century. Political science major Kelly Hart ’02, who interned in the White House, Office of the First Lady, analyzed the communications techniques of first ladies, including Laura Bush’s role before and after Sept. 11. “Mrs. Bush said so many times to me that she didn’t want to make speeches,” Hart says. “But this really forced her into the limelight, and she has become what the press has termed the ‘comforter of the nation.’”

Political science student Jennifer Ku ’02 was surprised that the terrorist attacks and subsequent anthrax scare — some 60 UC students working on Capitol Hill were among the hundreds of staffers tested for exposure, but none were found to be positive — affected her internship as much as they did.

An intern with the Congressional Children’s Caucus, her research topic was to be on juvenile-justice issues. “But after the attacks, nobody wanted to make the first move on doing something that didn’t have to do with Sept. 11,” Ku says. She ended up doing her project on juvenile justice, although her internship focused more on the topics of bioterrorism and its effect on children, orphans from Sept. 11 and Afghani children.

Even so, Ku says she gained a lot from the experience. “I learned about things I would never have thought to think about,” she says.

It’s not just the students who benefit from the experience, says Joel D. Aberbach, director of the Center for American Politics and Public Policy and founder of the Washington program. The students “carry the imprimatur for the university and are ambassadors for us in Washington.”

Fall 2001 was a milestone quarter, not only for the students — many of them had never been to Washington — but for the program itself. It marked the inauguration of the new $37-million University of California Washington Center, an 11-story, 106,000-square-foot building in Washington’s trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood, a Mecca for young professionals. For the first time, all 223 students participating in similar programs from eight UC campuses had the chance to live and learn together in the heart of the nation’s capital. Previously, students lived in apartments in suburban Virginia and commuted into the city for classes or sightseeing.

The greatest advantage of having the building — which is to be officially dedicated April 23 — is that students no longer have to commute 20 to 45 minutes on the Metro subway, says Larry Berman, a UC Davis political science professor and director of the UC Washington Center. Not only do students not have to take the Metro late at night, but they can also grab a bite to eat in their rooms — equipped with full kitchens — before heading to the computer lab or a class. “It’s changed their whole essence,” Berman says. “That, to me, is the biggest change. Everything is together.”

Indeed, the building is like a miniature UC. While administrators paired students from the same campus as roommates, they mixed students from different campuses together on each floor. Although security is tight these days, the atmosphere in the building is casual. It’s not unusual to see students at work in the computer lab late at night wearing slippers, or wandering the halls in their pajamas. “This is their home,” Berman emphasizes. “There is no dress code. Even I come down to my office in slippers sometimes.”

That informality and accessibility “is really great,” says philosophy major Melody Ehsani ’02, who interned with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. “For the first time, I have really been able to establish a relationship with my professor, and I feel that he cares about what we do.” The experience, she says, has been highly “interactive.”

James Desveaux is Melody’s political science professor and the head of the UCLA program in Washington. He says the selectivity of the program guarantees that the students who are accepted are of the highest caliber. “If you take students like that and spend the time to show them the expectations and road map for an empirical-research project, they’re a quick study,” Desveaux says. “It’s remarkable.”

The Washington Center’s open atmosphere also helps forge bonds among the students, who stay up at all hours exchanging ideas, working together on their projects or engaging in thought-provoking discussions. “All I did for the first few days was talk politics and things — we had these late-night conversations about religion, finance, physics and politics," Lunder says. “Interacting with other students was an important part of the education I got here.”

Jeffrey Ghassemi ’03 says he even learned from his roommate how to play chess. “Living with these guys has been a class in itself,” he says. Ghassemi is one of the few science-oriented students (he is majoring in political science but is premed) to take advantage of the Quarter in Washington Program. His internship was with the National Health Council and his research project was on federal funding and its effects on stem-cell research. During his internship he had the opportunity to meet James Thomson, whose research team at the University of Wisconsin-Madison was the first, in 1998, to successfully isolate and culture human embryonic stem cells, as well as his “idol,” Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) — not because of his politics, Ghassemi quickly adds, but because Frist is both a heart surgeon and a senator.

“A lot of science students think that to become a doctor, they need to focus on the science and that’s it,” Ghassemi says. “But there’s a lot of politics in medicine. You also have to know the policies behind the science and what is involved in getting certain pieces of health legislation passed.”

For example, he noted during a Congressional hearing that the scientists advocating for a broader use of stem cells failed to make a persuasive case. It was difficult to judge their level of passion, Ghassemi says, “just because their communication skills and their knowledge of the legislative process wasn’t there.”

UCLA administrators are putting the word out, hoping to make the Quarter in Washington Program more appealing to students from other majors. There are plenty of opportunities, not just for political science majors, but also for students who are in the sciences or the arts, says Scott Waugh ’70, UCLA’s dean of social sciences.

“The program gives students an excellent opportunity to get firsthand experience, especially for those in majors related to policy and governance,” says Waugh, who visited the students in the fall. “But beyond political science students, we try to encourage students from all fields to participate. Washington has a lot to offer to students in the arts, communications and many other fields.”

Waugh adds that the program is trying to recruit faculty from myriad fields to teach at the center. “Now that the facility is up and running, we will be redoubling our efforts,” Waugh says.

Administrators also have hopes that the UC Washington Center will become a hub of intellectual life, offering seminars, book readings and, perhaps in the future, press conferences in the facility’s state-of-the-art auditorium.

Through his Director’s Forum, Berman brings in influential leaders and thinkers to address the students on a regular basis. Speakers on the lineup have included: Rep. Bob Filner (D-San Diego), Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten, Europe magazine editor-in-chief Robert Guttman and Australian Ambassador to the United States Michael Thawley. (The UC center, coincidentally, is located across the street from the Australian Embassy.)

The influence of living in a changed world continues for the next group of UCLA students to head to Washington. At least one-fourth of the selected applicants for the spring quarter are focusing their projects on a Sept. 11-related topic.

Communication studies major Cynthia Determan ’02, for example, plans to research government expansion that has resulted from the attacks. “Prior to Sept. 11, there was a trend to minimize government and cut back on bureaucracy. But Sept. 11 changed the government’s agenda to one that must provide security in this time of crisis,” Determan says. “I chose this research topic because, although the events that took place on Sept. 11 resulted in a lot of pain, I feel a lot of positive reforms have also resulted. Going to Washington right now opens up a tremendous learning opportunity for me: analyzing the history that is being made in our nation’s capital.”

Berman says he is encouraged by the enthusiasm and vigor of the students pursuing the Washington program.

“One of the remarkable things is the renewed interest in public service,” Berman says. “The attack on America has had a lot of implication for young people regarding what they want to do.”

As 30 more UCLA students prepare to head to Washington this spring, they will be greeted by the words of director Berman that are posted on the center’s Web site:

“The events of Sept. 11 have not dimmed our great vision for the future. Indeed, the very idea of public service has never been more important. For me personally, the words written on the seal of the University of California that are also inscribed above the front door of 1608 Rhode Island Avenue — ‘Let There Be Light’ — serve as a constant reminder not only of the future, but that young people like yourselves will help shape that world.”

Students participating in UCLA’s Quarter in Washington Program take home with them a wealth of experiences that can carry over to their later lives. Some who have gone through the program have become documentary filmmakers, attorneys, policy analysts and archivists. Below are the 30 students of the Fall ’01 class: