Learning Experiences
Northwestern Undergraduates discover research
and public policy firsthand
Fall 2005, Volume 27, Number 1
Undergraduate Series on Race, Poverty, and Inequality
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Each year for the past three years, a group of undergraduates has come together to organize a series dedicated to examining the problems of race, inequality, and poverty that persist in American society and its institutions.
In 2004-05, the Northwestern Undergraduate Lecture Series on Race, Poverty, and Inequality tackled the subjects of No Child Left Behind, health care, and racial inequality in education. Led by juniors Martin Zacharia and Tyler Jaeckel, the series brings together policymakers, academics, and advocates to campus to broaden students’ understanding of these issues.
The series started in October 2004 with a look at the positive and negative impact of the controversial No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 in the classroom. The students brought together administrators from the Chicago Public Schools and local 2004 Golden Apple winners to discuss their views on NCLB. While both administrators and teachers lauded the ideals and intent of the federal legislation, they believed that the rigid standards did not fully consider the social contexts of students, the complex challenges faced by urban schools, and the difficulty of implementing broad national standards at local levels.
At their next program on health care reform, panelists discussed whether malpractice lawsuits are actually driving up medical costs, how to increase Medicaid access for the poor, and the plight of uninsured children.
The keynote speaker was Judith Feder, dean of public policy studies at Georgetown University. One of the biggest hurdles to covering the uninsured is getting those who have health insurance to care about those who don’t, she said. Feder also spoke about her experiences as one of the senior officials who worked on the Clinton administration’s unsuccessful attempt to create universal health care coverage.
The third program dealt with racial inequality in American education. Invited lecturer Pedro Noguera, professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, told the students that it was important to defend public education as an institution. But it was equally important to address the growing inequality of a system where “we spend the most to educate children who have the most and the least on children who need it the most,” he said.
“IPR has supported the series from the beginning because we believe it is vitally important for undergraduates to see how researchers and policymakers frame these issues—and be able to debate such views,” said Faculty Fellow Jeff Manza, IPR’s acting director in 2004-05 and professor of sociology.
Summer Undergraduate Research Program
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From left: Vanja Vidackovic, Laura
Rawski, and Jennifer Cueto |
Northwestern undergraduates also have the opportunity to participate in research projects and to work directly with a professor for 10 weeks by participating in IPR’s Summer Undergraduate Research Assistants Program. This summer, 42 undergraduates took part.
Laura Rawski, a senior this fall majoring in political science and pre-law, worked with IPR Faculty Fellow Wesley G. Skogan, professor of political science, on Project Cease Fire, a program aiming to reduce gun violence and thus shootings in Chicago. Rawski researched background information and attended meetings concerning crime on Chicago streets. Her work opened a window for her into the science behind such extensive research, she said. The skills she learned on her summer job will prove valuable to her this fall as she begins to research and write her thesis.
As a rising junior majoring in history and international studies with an interest in law, Aisha Arif applied to work with IPR Faculty Fellow Dorothy Roberts, Kirkland and Ellis Professor of Law. She conducted interviews and research investigating the negative community impact of the disproportionately large involvement of child welfare agencies in predominantly African American neighborhoods.
Although it is not what she specifically plans to study, Arif said the work has “opened me up to a world that I had never been greatly exposed to in my suburban middle-class bubble. It’s the best job I’ve ever had.”
“The program allows students to work one on one with professors and exposes them to what research is really like—the exciting and the boring parts,” said the program’s director Christopher Taber, an IPR faculty fellow and Household International Inc. Research Professor of Economics. “It also allows them to make a personal contribution to ongoing public policy research projects.”