Extensions Summer 2015 by Carl Albert Center's Extensions

Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2C6;Journal of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center

THE MILLENNIALS

Summer 2015

Established in 1979 by the Oklahoma Regents for Higher Education and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma, the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center is a nonpartisan institution devoted to instruction and scholarship related to the United States Congress. The mission of the Center is defined broadly in terms of academic inquiry into the history, structure, process, personnel, and policies of the Congress, and the relationship between the Congress and other agencies and actors in the American political system. In the most general sense, the Center is concerned with the problems of modern representative democracy, as exemplified by the Congress. In pursuit of this goal, the Carl Albert Center performs four principal functions. The first is the development of academic programs in congressional studies at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, which are sponsored in cooperation with the University of Oklahoma’s Department of Political Science. At the graduate level the Center offers a four-year, specialized fellowship program leading toward the doctoral degree. Each Fellow receives a fully financed program of study. At the undergraduate level the Center sponsors a research fellowship program designed to foster collaborative research between faculty and undergraduates. Second, believing that professional research is the foundation upon which its academic programs rest, the Center promotes original research by faculty members and students into various aspects of politics and the Congress. The Center encourages publication and provides its faculty and students with institutional and financial support to travel for research purposes and to present research findings at professional conferences. The third function of the Center is the development of resource materials related to the Congress. The Center’s Congressional Archives, which are among the largest in the country, include the papers of more than fifty former members of Congress. Such prominent Oklahomans as Speaker Albert, Dewey F. Bartlett, Page Belcher, Mickey Edwards, Glenn English, Robert S. Kerr, Sr., Fred Harris, Steve Largent, Dave McCurdy, Mike Monroney, Tom Steed, Mike Synar, and J. C. Watts have donated their papers to the Center along with such distinguished non-Oklahomans as Dick Armey, Helen Gahagan Douglas, and Carl Hatch. Fourth, the Center actively strives to promote a wider understanding and appreciation of the Congress through various civic education programs. The Center sponsors conferences, speakers, television appearances, and the biennial Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture in Representative Government. The Center also publishes Extensions, a journal which focuses on issues related to the Congress. Taken together, these diverse aspects of the Carl Albert Center constitute a unique resource for scholarship and research related to the United States Congress.

The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center Director and Curator Cindy Simon Rosenthal Associate Director Michael H. Crespin Regents’ Professor Ronald M. Peters, Jr. Director of Administration Katherine McRae Assistant Director for N.E.W. Leadership Lauren Schueler Assistant Curator Nathan Gerth Archivist Rachel Henson National Advisory Board David Albert Richard A. Baker David L. Boren Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Joseph S. Foote Joel Jankowsky Thomas J. Kenan Dave McCurdy Frank H. Mackaman Thomas E. Mann Chuck Neal Michael L. Reed Catherine E. Rudder Hon. Tom Cole 4th District, Oklahoma ex officio Managing Editor, Extensions Debra Levy Martinelli Graphic Designer, Extensions Brandy Akbaran University of Oklahoma Printing, Mailing and Document Services

A Journal of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center

TABLE OF CONTENTS Summer 2015

Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Introduction

The Millennials

Special Orders

Ronald M. Peters, Jr.

Talking About This Generation: The Millennials and Politics Peter Levine

The Good News Is, The Bad News Is Wrong: Another View of The Millennial Generation

Does Hope Abide? Millennial Activists and the 2008 Obama Campaign

The Millennials: Reflections of Carl Albert Center Alumni

LaDonna Sullivan: A Tribute Ronald M. Peters, Jr.

Russell J. Dalton

Molly W. Andolina, Krista Jenkins

For the Record News from the Center Katherine McRae

On the cover: Select images courtesy of Jawanza Bassue and Michael Willmus. Extensions is a copyrighted publication of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center. It is published twice each year and distributed free of charge. To receive copies of Extensions, or to obtain permission to reprint, please contact Katherine McRae, at (405) 325-6372 or e-mail to mcrae@ou.edu. Extensions also may be viewed on the Centerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website at www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter.

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Editor’s Introduction

THE MILLENNIALS Ronald M. Peters, Jr. | Editor

o you want to know what Millennials are like? It is not hard to find out. Just put the word into a search engine and off you go. So, the Council of Economic Advisors informs us that Millennials are now the most numerous generational cohort. They are less likely to own homes. They tend to marry later in life than previous generations. In search of opportunity, college-educated Millennials are flocking to urban areas. They now have health insurance, but are burdened with student loan debt.1 They are disinclined to work in government. 2 Because they have migrated to urban areas, they are less interested in owning a car. 3 Millennials also have faced tough economic times at an early point in their lives in spite of being more highly educated than previous cohorts. Since the Great Recession, their median income has fallen, the number of them living with their parents has increased, unemployment has risen, and a large majority have never married.4 Perhaps because of this sense of economic insecurity, a Pew survey finds both Republican- and Democratic-leaning Millennials more sympathetic to labor unions. 5 And data reported by the Higher Education Research Institute in The New York Times suggests that Millennials are more concerned with making money than anything else.6 And what of their political attitudes and activities? The rise of the Millennial Generation brought great hopes that they would rise above the acrid politics observed in their youth to heal the nation. That optimism has more recently yielded to a more pessimistic perspective suggesting that the high turnout of young voters in the 2008 election may have been the high water mark of Millennial engagement.7 And some argue that the Millennials are actually distinctive for their lack of political engagement.

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Political operatives, of course, are mostly interested in how people vote. There has been much speculation since at least 2008 about whether the Millennial Generation will combine with shifting racial and ethnic demographics to create a new Democratic majority. For that to happen, of course, Millennials will have to trend Democratic and, as importantly, vote. While there is evidence that Millennials have been trending toward the Democrats, there is also evidence that those who lean Democratic are less likely to show up at the polls. Still, Republicans cannot be much comforted by evidence indicating that on key issues substantial majorities of Millennial voters support the policy positions associated with the Democratic Party. 8 Political scientists, unlike political operatives, are primarily interested in the underlying bases of political attitudes and behavior, and are now curious to know if the Millennial Generation will differ from those generations that have preceded it. Since the Millenials are now the largest generational cohort, they are likely to have a profound impact on American society, politics, and government. This issue of Extensions examines “The Millennials.” This crop will have the distinction of being the most thoroughly yet studied, as researchers will be tracking their attitudes and choices from the earliest possible point in their lives. But at present they are the least surveyed and hence the least well understood. What do we know about them? In his article “Talking About this Generation: The Millennials and Politics,” Peter Levine observes that Millennials are not all alike. In fact, variation in measures of political participation among Millennials are often more sizable than in comparison to other generational cohorts. Drawing on research that applies cluster analysis to survey research results, Levine identifies six groupings of Millennials defined in relationship to their

levels of political participation. These groupings range from “broadly engaged” (in a variety of participatory modes) to “civically alienated” (those who reported no political activity at all). In between are groupings that engaged in some forms of participation but not others: Some voted, some registered but did not vote, and others limited their political engagement to discussion. These data should give pause to anyone inclined to generalize about the Millennials. Variation among Millennials on levels of civic engagement suggests that they, like all other generational cohorts, are subject to multiple forces. Levine distinguishes three possible influences that might shape the attitudes of any given cohort: generation effects, age effects, and period effects. He assesses these influences in relationship to general attitudes toward government, as well as across several policy issues, including education, welfare, and sexual orientation. While it is not possible to attribute an aging effect to the Millennials quite yet, it is possible to compare their attitudes to earlier generations, searching for generation and period effects. Like Levine, Russell Dalton is interested in the Millennnials’ views of their responsibilities as citizens. In “The Good News Is, the Bad News is Wrong: Another View of the Millennial Generation,” he analyzes data from the General Social Survey to identify two dimensions of citizenship, “duty” and “engagement.” The “duty” dimension relates to such indicators of civic responsibility as obeying the law, voting, and paying taxes. The “engagement” dimension is defined in terms of one’s attitude toward civil society, such as concern for others, joining in groups, and even skepticism about government. Looking at GSS data from 2004 and 2014, Dalton finds a clear pattern in the data: The older you are the more likely it is that your conception of citizenship is grounded in

duty; the younger you are, the more likely it is that your conception of citizenship is grounded in forms of civic engagement. Millennials have grown up in an era of high political polarization. They are immersed in a fragmented media environment. They are less likely to follow the daily newspapers or evening newscasts. They are more likely to get their information from the various venues the Internet provides. This tends to draw them toward associations with like-minded peers, and points them

set of indicators of political engagement. Most had previous experience in politics or government, and as Chicago natives were drawn to the Obama campaign from its outset. They were not naïve, but were genuinely committed to the kind of change that Barack Obama promised to the American people. In conducting in-depth interviews with these Obama activists in the seventh year of his presidency, Andolina and Jenkins are interested in gaining insight into how

internships in the Oklahoma legislature and state agencies. The Community Scholars Program facilitates similar opportunities in local government and nonprofit agencies. And our National Education for Women’s (N.E.W.) Leadership Institute provides an intensive leadership training experience for women students from OU and other state colleges and universities. Like Andolina and Jenkins, we are interested to know how these experiences have shaped the careers of the students

SINCE THE MILLENNIALS

ARE NOW THE LARGEST GENERATIONAL COHORT, THEY ARE LIKELY TO HAVE A PROFOUND IMPACT ON AMERICAN SOCIETY, POLITICS, AND GOVERNMENT. toward forms of engagement that are peripheral to the formal political processes that shape their elders’ understanding of public life. When they do consider political participation, they are less likely to have voted and more likely to have engaged in other forms of political activism. Are these generational, age, or period effects? It is hard to say until more time has passed and more data gathered on the Millennials. But it seems likely that period effects may play a prominent role. The formative life experiences of the Millennials include the War in Iraq, the Great Recession, bitter partisan polarization, and the social media era. The Greatest Generation was shaped by the Great Depression, World War II, and the radio. The Baby Boomers were shaped by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and television. Surely, the Millennials’ attitudes will be affected by the period effects shaping their socialization as citizens. Levine and Dalton have searched for aggregate patterns in the behavior and attitudes of Millennials by relying on largescale surveys. By contrast, Molly Angolina and Krista Jenkins, in their article “Does Hope Abide? Millennial Activists & the 2008 Obama Campaign,” focus on a small group of Millennials who were active in President Obama’s 2008 campaign. These young people were inspired by Barack Obama the candidate, and dedicated to President Obama’s administration and most of its policies. These activists would likely be situated off the charts on any

these Millennials’ perspectives might have evolved as the Obama administration has proceeded. This question is of particular interest to understand the extent to which President Obama’s influence on his Millennial supporters will endure. The answer, like everything else about the Millennials, is nuanced. It was perhaps inevitable, given the many struggles that President Obama has faced and some of the policy positions that he has embraced, that his most avid young supporters would feel a sense of disappointment. The president has not brought about as much change as they had hoped he might. But their engagement in the political process also has brought with it a sense of optimism. They became engaged, and their side won. Change is possible if one tries to bring it about. They are disappointed, but not disaffected. Their experience suggests something important about the potential of democratic politics in America. Political engagement can give rise to hope and further engagement. If this is so, then we Americans have something at stake in fostering a sense of engagement among the Millennials and the generations that will follow. This, at least, has been the assumption guiding the Carl Albert Center’s various civic engagement programs for undergraduate students. The Center sponsors four such programs. The oldest is our Undergraduate Research Fellows Program, which enables students to work with faculty on specific research projects. Our Capital Scholars Program provides

who have participated in them. This issue of Extensions includes a feature on several of our undergraduate fellow and N.E.W. participant alumni. We asked them to reflect upon how their experiences have shaped their subsequent career paths. Their narratives provide evidence that early engagement in public affairs can foster a lifelong commitment to civic engagement.

Notes 1. Council of Economic Advisors Report, “15 Facts about the Millennials.” October 2014. https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/ docs/millennials_report.pdf accessed May 2, 2015. 2. Lisa Rein, “Millennials exit the federal workforce as government jobs lose their allure.” Washington Post, December 20, 2014. 3. Emily Badger, “Millennials are not who you think they are,” Washington Post, April 18, 2015. 4. Dan DeLuca, “Degrees don’t equal dollars for Millenials,” The News Press (Cape Coral and Ft. Myers, FL), February 8, 2015, p. 1. 5. As reported by Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig, “Even Conservative Millennials Support Unions,” The New Republic, May 1, 2015. 6. “Millennials Rule,” New York Times “Education Life,” April 12, 2015, p. 4. 7. Bernie Quigley, “Millennials: The new ‘Lost Generation’? The Hill, March 17, 2014. 8. Russell Berman, “The Invisible Democratic Majority,” The Atlantic, April 8, 2015. http:// www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/04/ the-invisible-democratic-majority/389898/. Russell Berman, “The Millennials Who Prefer Democrats Don’t Plan on Voting,” The Atlantic, October 29, 2014. http://www.theatlantic.com/ politics/archive/2014/10/how-democrats-lostthe-millennial-vote/382087/. Jocelyn Kiley and Michael Dimock, “GOP’s Millennial Problem Runs Deep,” Pew Research Center, September 25, 2014. http://www.pewresearch.org/facttank/2014/09/25/the-gops-millennial-problemruns-deep/.

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Special Orders

TALKING ABOUT THIS GENERATION:

THE MILLENNIALS AND POLITICS

Peter Levine | Tufts University

Peter Levine is associate dean for research and Lincoln Filene Professor of Citizenship & Public Affairs in the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. He is the author of We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America (2013).

here is a thriving market for generalizations about the Millennials, whether positive or negative. On my shelf sits The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30) by Mark Bauerlein. It sits right next to Generation We: How Millennial Youth are Taking over America and Changing Our World Forever by Eric H. Greenberg and Karl Weber. On the back cover of the latter is a blurb from the television producer Norman Lear, who admires “today’s wonderful young people as they push, pull, and propel us all toward global salvation.” I also own Tuned Out: Why Americans Under 40 Don’t Follow the News by David T. Z. Mindich and Tamara Draut’s Strapped: Why America’s 20- and 30-Somethings Can’t Get Ahead. These are just samples from a large basket of books about the Millennials. This generation is becoming the largest group of adults.1 Within a decade, they will have the most votes, and gradually they will come to lead our institutions, both public and private. No wonder they provoke interest. But it is important to consider the evidence carefully and avoid hyperbole.

Diversity Within the Millennials For one thing, a generation is a somewhat arbitrary construct. Babies are born every minute. Conventionally,

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a generation is defined as all the people born within the same 20-year span of history. The breaking points among generations could be set anywhere, but in the United States, it has been common to use 1946 as the baseline because of the “boom” of babies born soon after most GIs were demobilized, and because childhood and adolescence were different in post-War America. That produces a sequence of the Greatest Generation (born 1926-1945), Baby Boomers (19461965), Generation-X (1966-1985), and Millennials (1986-2005). These distinctions look official, but the reality is gradual change. Although they would be classified as members of different generations, siblings born in 1944 and 1946 faced much more similar social circumstances than a pair of Baby Boomers born 19 years apart, in 1946 and 1965. Certainly, a Millennial who is currently 10 years old has different life circumstances than a Millennial who is almost 30. Even people born at the same moment can be very different. That is certainly true of the Millennials, who are racially and ethnically diverse to an unprecedented degree and who are coming of age when there are remarkably wide gaps in life experience and prospects among Americans of different class backgrounds. It would be odd if vast numbers of contemporaries thought and acted alike; and the data clearly show that they do not. Millennials run the gamut from highly engaged to completely

alienated, and their opinions on issues and candidates similarly range widely. To note a few examples of differences among the Millennials: Turnout: Nearly half (45 percent) of eligible American citizens under the age of 30 voted in 2012. That was very similar to the national youth turnout rates in 1976, 1980, 1984, 2004, and 2008. There was nothing remarkable about the national youth turnout rate in 2012. But young people who had attended college were 27 percentage points more likely to vote than those without any college experience; and young adults in Minnesota turned out at more than twice the rate of their contemporaries in West Virginia (57.7 percent versus 23.6 percent). Any generalization about young people as either politically engaged or disengaged overlooks vast differences by location and by social circumstance. 2 Partisanship: President Barack Obama is said to have won the “youth vote” in both 2008 and 2012. But, of course, he only won some youths’ votes. Of those who turned out in 2012, 98 percent of young black women supported the president, versus 41 percent of young white men. 3 Again, any generalization about the partisan or ideological preferences of Millennials would conceal a great deal of disagreement. And the 2012 electorate was just one snapshot. In 2014, youth turnout was half what it had been in 2012, and those who voted were considerably less liberal, with only 54 percent choosing a Democratic House candidate.

Views on social issues: Millennials have a reputation for being comfortable with racial difference. At the time of writing, one of the most prominent examples of young people’s activism is a wave of protests against police violence described as racist. Yet almost half (48 percent) of people between the ages of 18 and 24 said that “discrimination against whites has become as big a problem as discrimination against blacks and other minorities.” Fifty-eight percent of young white respondents believed that was the case. 4 Many white and African American young people hold diametrically opposed views of race relations in the United States, which is perhaps not surprising when we note that the average white student attends a school that is 75 percent white, whereas 38 percent of blacks “attend intensely segregated schools (those with only 0-10% of white students).”5 These are examples of behavioral, experiential, and attitudinal differences among young people. They often dwarf differences among generations. For instance, turnout in US elections has been strikingly flat since the early 1970s (notwithstanding rapid changes in the political system, issues and candidates, and the mass media). The turnout gap between Millennials who have college degrees and those without college experience is far larger than any difference between Millennials and previous generations. In 2010, led by Kei KawashimaGinsberg, my colleagues at Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement analyzed census data

Millennials are less likely to follow daily newspapers or evening newscasts than older generations.

using a technique called cluster analysis, which assigns individuals to categories depending on the totality of the measures used in a survey. The 2010 youth sample empirically fell into six clusters: Almost everyone in the Broadly Engaged cluster (21.3 percent of the sample) voted and many also volunteered, worked with youth in their communities, attended public meetings, or worked with neighbors to address community problems. Most had at least some college education and 70.6 percent were white. Meanwhile, the Civically Alienated group (23.2 percent), did not vote, volunteer, belong to any groups, or otherwise participate in local

IT WOULD BE ODD IF VAST NUMBERS OF CONTEMPORARIES THOUGHT AND ACTED ALIKE; AND THE DATA CLEARLY SHOW THAT THEY DO NOT. MILLENNIALS RUN THE GAMUT FROM HIGHLY ENGAGED TO COMPLETELY ALIENATED, AND THEIR OPINIONS ON ISSUES AND CANDIDATES SIMILARLY RANGE WIDELY.

civil society. A majority held a high school diploma or less, only ten percent were college graduates, and a majority were people of color. 6 The remaining clusters were: Political Specialists (17.5 percent), who only voted; Under-Mobilized (13.6 percent), who registered to vote but didn’t turn out; Talkers (13 percent), who reported discussing social issues but not acting; and Donors (11.3 percent), who gave money to causes but otherwise stood aside. Each cluster looked very different both in its demographics and civic behavior, epitomizing the diversity of the generation.

Thinking About Age, Generation, and History Sometimes we do observe that young people have a distinctive set of attitudes and behaviors. There is no question, for example, that today’s youth hold different opinions about same-sex marriage than people had a century ago. They also use social media much more than people born in the 1980s. When confronted with such examples of youth characteristics, it is important to distinguish among three phenomena. A generational effect occurs when people born around the same time share a formative experience that stays with them all their lives. As they enter and then exit the national extensions | Summer 2015

fig. 1 confidence in Congress

Some Changes are Not Generational

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Boomers

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Figure 1. Confidence in Congress

fig. 2 we spend too little on education 90 80 70 60

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"Greatest Generation"

Boomers

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Figure 2. We Spend Too Little on Education

population, they change society by their presence alone. An example is the experience of growing up in the Depression, the New Deal, and World War II, which permanently shaped the so-called Greatest Generation (born 1924-1945). Notwithstanding differences and disagreements among these people, they were notable for their trust in their fellow citizens and their predilection for joining certain kinds of civic organizations. A different phenomenon is an age effect. While people are young, they tend to be relatively interested in sex and adventure. Once they are old, they are usually more concerned about health. This is a constant pattern across generations. A third phenomenon is a period or historical effect. Americans in general

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became more concerned about foreign policy after September 11, 2011. We became more pessimistic about the economy after 2007. These were not consequences of age or generation but responses to history. The three phenomena are easy to confuse when you notice, for instance, that “young people today” do not seem to trust Congress or read newspapers, but they do volunteer. Those are important facts, but each one could be a generational effect, an age effect, or a period effect. The difference matters: Age effects simply diminish with time and period effects may change in response to shifts in the external situation, but generational effects (by definition) persist.

It is widely believed that younger generations show less trust or confidence in government. This general construct can be measured in many ways. One useful time series is a GSS question about confidence in the US Congress to do the right thing (Fig. 1).7 Here we see lots of change but little evidence of a generational effect. The older three generations have moved in lockstep. Their confidence fell sharply after the Ronald Reagan/Tip O’Neill era, recovered from the Newt Gingrich speakership and late Bill Clinton era through 9/11, and fell subsequently. They were all seeing the same political situation and reacting similarly. So far, Millennials look more trusting than older Americans, not less so; but that was also true of Xers when they were young adults. Fig. 1 is an illustration of a period effect: Everyone, regardless of age or birth year, has held similar views of the current situation in Congress, and people are prone to fairly rapid changes depending on their perception of recent news from Washington, DC. These data imply that to increase public trust in government requires changing public perceptions of its recent performance; such changes will affect all generations equally. There is not much basis for creating special messages or strategies to boost Millennials’ trust. The same is true of confidence in the press (not shown here). Everyone lost confidence, with the biggest decline occurring between 1977 and 1993. The generations that were old enough to be surveyed during those years sang in unison. Millennials were at first slightly more confident in the press than other generations, but now they have the same views as all the older people. This is a story of an industry losing the public’s trust (fairly or not) – it is not about the Millennials or any other generation. Turning to a contested policy issue: We might assume that Millennials would have a special concern with education, and particularly with spending to improve public schools or to lower the cost of college, because

they are still young enough to benefit directly. Education spending is indeed popular. In 2012, three quarters of American adults told the General Social Survey that our nation spends too little on education. And Fig. 2 tells a generational story, to a degree. The three generations born (respectively) in the 20 years before 1926, before 1946, and before 1966 have each held successively more favorable views of education spending. I’d interpret that pattern as a story of economic growth and development. Workers have needed increasing amounts of education to flourish in our increasingly complex society. That need became increasingly evident to adults who came of age later in the twentieth century. But each generation has not changed much over time. It does not

appear that people either lose or gain support for education spending as a result of moving through the life course. The pattern of each generation being more favorable than its predecessors stopped with Generation X, which has held the same opinions of education spending as Baby Boomers. The limited data on Millennials suggests they are also in the same camp. The upshot: Support for education spending is stable at a high level, buoyed by the majority opinion of everyone born after 1925, and not subject to much short-term change. There is nothing particularly distinctive about Millennials. Just as we might assume that Millennials care the most about education, we might guess that they would care least about Social Security – which is far away for them,

fig. 3 we spend too much on welfare

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Figure 3. We Spend Too Much on Welfare

fig. 4 there is nothing wrong with gay sex 80

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1973 1976 1980 1984 1987 1989 1991 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Figure 4. There is Nothing Wrong with Gay Sex

assuming it will even exist by the time they retire. But generations do not seem to change their views of Social Security as they age. Members of the “Greatest Generation,” for example, have held the same opinion for the past 30 years. Likewise, Generation X has felt the same since its members were young, even though they are now in middle age. The key pattern is a rising perceived need to spend money on Social Security during the 1970s and 1980s, followed by a plateau. If anything, the strongest supporters since 1990 have been the relatively young adults. Social Security remains very popular (no surprise there), but it’s not an old person’s issue. Xers and Millennials are actually more supportive than members of the “Greatest Generation” today. Graphs for education and Social Security (not shown) look very similar. That is interesting because education is presumed to benefit the young, whereas Social Security focuses on the aged. Yet opinions about spending money for these two purposes track closely. It would appear that the driving force is a person’s general view of the role of government, not a calculation of one’s own needs and interests. And views of government have been generally similar for members of the past three generations. Welfare is much less popular than education. In 2012, almost half of adults (47.6 percent) told the GSS that we spend too much on it; onethird thought welfare spending was about right, and just 19.1 percent said we should spend more. I have created a graph showing the “liberal” opinion (we should spend more on welfare), but I find the opposite graph more illuminating to display. Fig. 3 shows the proportion of Americans who think we spend too much on welfare. Here we observe the oldest generation only toward the end of their lives, when they (alone) disagree with the conservative argument that we are spending too much on welfare. All the subsequent generations have moved pretty closely together and have oscillated between a majority and a minority view that welfare costs too much. There have been spikes of concern about excessive welfare spending in the 1970s and the early extensions | Summer 2015

fig. 5 read a newspaper daily 90 80 70

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1972 1977 1982 1985 1987 1989 1991 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014

Figure 5. Read a Newspaper Daily

1990s. In those upticks, one can see the political opportunity for Ronald Reagan and Newt Gingrich. But there really hasn’t been a significant generational pattern to beliefs about welfare. The changes seem more correlated with short-term economic circumstances and/or government policy. For instance, when President Reagan began cutting social spending and when President Clinton declared the end of “welfare as we know it,” concern about overspending fell. The implication: Welfare spending is a constant political debate, and who wins at a given moment depends on policy and circumstances. Again, Millennials do not differ at all noticeably from their predecessors.

Changes That are Generational One example of a generational shift is in attitudes toward gays. Since 1973, the GSS has asked about attitudes toward gay sex. For the adult population as a whole, the proportion who say it is “not wrong at all” has risen from 11.2 percent in 1973 to 49.2 percent in 2014, a very significant social shift. As Fig. 4 shows, that increase has been driven in part by members of each generation changing their minds over the course of their lives. For example, members of Generation X have increased their acceptance of gay sex by 44.5 percentage points since they were quite young in 1988. But the other driver has been

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generational replacement. Each new generation has entered adulthood with more accepting attitudes than its predecessors. There was a 36-point gap in 2014 between Millennials and members of the “Greatest Generation,” who had not changed their views all that much since the 1990s. In the future, as Millennials grow in numbers and the World War II generation continues to diminish, acceptance for gays is almost guaranteed to rise by replacement alone. A different GSS question asks whether a gay man should be allowed to speak in public in the respondent’s community. That trend is even more purely generational, as members of the same birth cohorts have hardly changed their minds at all over time, but Boomers, Xers, and Millennials have been consistently much more supportive than the World War II generation. I noted earlier that attitudes toward the press are not generational. Everyone lost confidence at the same time, regardless of their birth year. But reading a daily newspaper is a generational habit (see fig. 5). Since 2002, members of the “Greatest Generation,” Baby Boomers, and GenXers have all reduced their reading of daily newspapers a bit. But the real reason for declining readership is generational replacement. Going back to the 1970s, we see a strong pattern that each generation reads the newspaper much less than its predecessors. That means that as

succeeding generations compose larger shares of the population, total readership falls. (Unfortunately, the GSS doesn’t provide a lengthy time series on Internet news, which would make an interesting comparison.)

What About the New Forms of Politics? I have tried to indicate how to think about Millennials, emphasizing the need to look past easy generalizations. Many of our social and political problems are not generational; they are remarkably persistent. Voter turnout is an example. We do not have a new problem with low turnout by Millennials. The low participation of young people – and especially young adults with less education – has persisted for 40 years. Youth voter turnout is best understood as a stubborn form of inequality (with less advantaged young people left out of politics), not as a generational phenomenon. One pitfall is to presume that Millennials have unique assets for American politics, such as their supposed racial tolerance and support for practical problem-solving, so that we can count on the political system to improve as they come of age. The opposite pitfall is to assume that Millennials have special deficits, such as their supposed alienation from formal politics, that should lead us to intervene by (for example) requiring new high school courses and tests. 8 A better generalization would be that youth engagement in US democracy has been remarkably stable since the early 1970s. That said, I do agree with Russell Dalton (in this issue of Extensions) and with authors like W. Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg that new forms of political engagement are arising, enabled by the global reach of social media. People are increasingly likely to affiliate in loose networks rather than formally joining associations. Between the 1970s and 2000s, rates of membership in organized groups, participation in religious services, daily readership of newspapers, and membership in unions all fell for young people, with the deepest declines among working-class youth.9 These changes probably manifest both the

decreasing capacity of civil society to recruit new members and some decreases in young people’s enthusiasm for committing to official groups.10 Meanwhile, today’s activists are often less focused on the state, pressing for changes in companies, nonprofits, or popular culture rather than laws. Their actions are often expressive and personalized, such as making an online video or sharing political opinions with friends. In contrast, activities like voting and contributing cash to an organization are standardized and impersonal. 11 Finally, the new forms of politics often cross national borders. Prominent examples include the global Occupy Movement, the Arab Spring, and the recent protests following police shootings in Ferguson, MO, and elsewhere. Participation in such movements is consistent with what Dalton calls an “engaged” rather than a “dutiful” conception of citizenship. Young people seem disproportionately active in these movements, albeit along with many older citizens. And Millennials in general prefer the “engaged” ideal of politics, differing from older people today at least in that attitude. For instance, even though Millennials’ actual voter turnout is similar to that of previous cohorts when they were the same age, Millennials are much less likely to describe the obligation to vote in every election as “very important.” They are not only less likely to see an obligation than older people are today, but also less likely than their predecessors were a decade ago.12 These are qualitative changes in the nature of political participation and youth attitudes about politics. It remains to be seen, however, whether the new forms of engaged or participatory politics are truly generational. If older people rapidly adopt the same new modes of engagement, it will turn out that the change was driven by technology and/or shifts in major institutions (such as governments and the press), and not by generational values. By analogy, Facebook arose as a youth phenomenon – literally, as an alternative to Harvard University’s undergraduate student directory – but now that 57 percent of all American adults have Facebook pages, it is no longer obvious that social networking is

generational.13 The same may turn out to be true of participatory politics. It also remains to be seen how many young people will be involved in the new forms of politics. In 2012, Cathy J. Cohen, Joseph Kahne and their colleagues found that 41 percent of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25 had engaged in at least one act of “participatory politics,” such as forwarding a political video or starting an online group focused on an issue.14 But more committed forms of engagement are dramatically less common. That same year, just two percent of young adults said they had personally participated in Occupy’s activities and events.15 The Occupy Movement is worthy of attention because of its impact on national debates, yet direct participation would hardly register in national surveys of young adults. Traditional organizations, such as parties and nonprofits, would be wise to offer younger people opportunities for self-expression and informal networking, because those forms of engagement are consistent with Millennials’ expectations for how politics should work.16 But at least for the time being, young Americans still generally resemble their predecessors both in their actual political behavior and in their opinions on most major political topics. Our most serious challenge is not to engage a whole generation of Millennials but rather to reduce persistent gaps in engagement by race and class.

Notes 1. Richard Fry, “This Year, Millennials Will Overtake Baby Boomers,” Pew Research Center, January 16, 2015. Pew uses 1981 as the starting year, whereas I will use 1986, but the only difference is the precise point at which Millennials outnumber Boomers. 2. CIRCLE (Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement) staff, “The Youth Vote in 2012,” CIRCLE Fact Sheet, May 10, 2013, via www.civicyouth.org 3. CIRCLE Staff, “Diverse Electorate: A deeper look into the Millennial Vote,” November 14, 2012. 4. Robert P. Jones, Daniel Cox, and Thomas Banchoff, A Generation in Transition: Religion, Values, and Politics Among College-Age Millennials (Washington, DC: Public Religion Research Institute, Inc. and Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, 2012). http://publicreligion. org/research/2012/04/millennial-valuessurvey-2012/#.VRGoTfnF98E.

5. Gary Orfield, John Kucsera, and Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, E Pluribus … Separation Deepening Double Segregation for More Students (Los Angeles: The Civil Rights Project, 2012), pp. 9-10; http://civilrightsproject. ucla.edu/research/k-12-education/integrationand-diversity/mlk-national/e-pluribus... separation-deepening-double-segregation-formore-students. 6. Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg and CIRCLE staff, Understanding a Diverse Generation: Youth Civic Engagement in the United States, CIRCLE, November 2011. http://www. civicyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ CIRCLE_cluster_report2010.pdf. 7. In the rest of this article, unless otherwise noted, all data are analyzed from Tom W. Smith, Peter Marsden, Michael Hout, and Jibum Kim, General Social Surveys, 19722012 [machine-readable data file], sponsored by the National Science Foundation, NORC ed. (Chicago: National Opinion Research Center) and Storrs, CT: The Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, University of Connecticut (distributor), 2013, plus the 2014 GSS from NORC. 8. On the effects of such policies, see Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg and Peter Levine, “Policy Effects on Informed Political Engagement,” American Behavioral Scientist (published online before print, December 13, 2013). 9. Constance A. Flanagan, Peter Levine, and Richard Settersten, Civic Engagement and the Changing Transition to Adulthood, CIRCLE monograph, January 2009. 10. Peter Levine, We are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For: The Promise of Civic Renewal in America (Oxford University Press, 2013), pp. 91-119. 11. W. Lance Bennett and Alexandra Segerberg, The Logic Of Connective Action: Digital Media and the Personalization of Contentious Politics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013). 12. A battery of GSS questions about obligations was only asked in 2004 and 2014. In the latter year, just 40.9 percent of Millennials said voting in every election was important, as compared to 58.7 percent of Xers a decade before. Likewise, when asked by the GSS how important it is to obey laws, 57.4 percent of Millennials said it was always very important in 2014. Fewer Xers gave that answer in 2014 (66.4 percent) and also in 2004 (63.9 percent). 13. Aaron Smith, “6 New Facts about Facebook” Pew Research Center, February 3, 2014, http://www.pewresearch.org/ fact-tank/2014/02/03/6-new-facts-aboutfacebook/. 14. Cathy J. Cohen, Joseph Kahne, Benjamin Bowyer, Ellen Middaugh, and Jon Rogowski, “Participatory Politics New Media and Youth Political Action,” Youth & Participatory Politics Survey Project, 2012. 15. CIRCLE staff, “Romney Trails Among Young Adults” July 31, 2012, http://www. civicyouth.org/romney-trails-amongyoung-adults/. 16. See Christopher Wells, The Civic Organization and the Digital Citizen: Communicating Engagement in a Networked Age (New York: Oxford University Press, in press).

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Special Orders

THE GOOD NEWS IS, THE BAD NEWS IS WRONG:

ANOTHER VIEW OF THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION Russell J. Dalton | University of California, Irvine

Russell J. Dalton is research professor in the Center for the Study of Democracy at the University of California, Irvine. His most recent book is The Good Citizen, 2nd ed. (2015). His email address is rdalton@uci.edu.

f you ask people over age 50 about the Millennial Generation, you get a consistent answer – consistently negative. Millennials are supposedly self-centered, individualistic and even narcissistic. In political terms, they are poorly informed, disinterested in politics, and don’t bother to vote. Politicians tend to overlook the views of the young, because youth don’t show up on Election Day. Popular impressions of this generation are supported by researchers who argue that the young are a primary source of the decline in social capital and political engagement in America, and all the woes that follow from this trend.1 As a university professor who teaches young people and does research on public opinion, I find these negative stereotypes too harsh. Many of the young people I meet on campus and in the community have life credentials, including voluntary and public service activities that make my own youthful experiences pale in comparison. This is the best-educated generation in American history, with access to an unprecedented wealth of information, enjoying better living standards and broader social experiences than their parents’ or grandparents’ generation. It doesn’t seem that we should be lamenting the entrance of this generation into the electorate. Young people clearly have their faults, and since the time of Aristotle political observers have criticized the next generation as not being up to

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the high standard of their generation. Paul Lynde said it best in the 1960s Broadway play, Bye, Bye Birdie: “Why can’t they be like we were, perfect in every way?” And yet, the world has improved even across the successive generations. The generation that Lynde chastised in the 1960s is now saying the same of its children. This generational pattern seems a verity of life. I argue that the retort to this song has also not changed: The good news is, the bad news is wrong. For many years I have researched national public opinion surveys on the values of American youth, and

What is a Good Citizen? Embedded in discussions of the declining political qualities of the American public are debates about citizenship norms. Authors from Harvard professor Robert Putman to former television news anchor Tom Brokaw extol the civic values and engagement of the older, World War II “greatest generation” with great hyperbole. This generation emphasized a sense of civic duty, a collective sense of responsibility, and a respect for authority that many commentators argue is vital to a strong democracy. Conversely, youth are seen

AMERICANS STILL VALUE GOOD CITIZENSHIP, BUT CONCEPTIONS OF CITIZENSHIP ARE CHANGING. what emerges from this research challenges the negative stereotypes about the young. 2 This essay draws upon this evidence and yields a more positive portrait of the political values of the Millennial Generation, and then discuss the implications for political participation. The Millennial Generation is politically different from its elders, but different doesn’t necessarily mean worse.

as lacking the traits of good citizenship that proved so valuable in the past. Before anyone can deliver a generalized indictment of the contemporary public, or the Millennial Generation in particular, one should have a full understanding of how citizenship norms are changing and the effects of these changes. It is undeniable that the citizenry at the start of the twenty-first century is different from the American electorate in the mid-twentieth century.

the pattern observed by previous analysts. But what they missed was the rise in an alternative definition of engaged citizenship, such that this orientation is most common among the Millennial Generation (and dutybased citizenship is the least common). The citizenship critics focused only on the line of declining duty-based notice of citizenship, rather than the contrasting increase in an engaged definition of citizenship. And each year, each decade, some older, dutiful Americans leave the population to be replaced by younger, engaged citizens. This process of demographic turnover promises to systematically change how Americans define good citizenship

– with repercussions for society and democracy. My research finds that these changes in citizenship norms affect the values and behaviors of democratic citizens in many ways. The critics have pointed to possible negative effects of the decline in duty-based citizenship. However, the rise in engaged citizenship can benefit American democracy through greater political tolerance, an increased concern Figure 1. Change in Citizenship Norms for others in need and support for a

alone, as Putnam claimed. When older Americans do not see their offspring participating as they did, this fosters negativity about youth and politics. Young Americans are voting less today than the youth of prior generations. This applies not only to the United States, but to most affluent democracies. This is a serious problem that political parties and governments address because voting is so by should Generation central to the democratic process – and

0.3

Duty Average Score

Fewer Americans feel it is their duty to vote, deference to authority in its various forms has decreased, and individualism has obviously increased. There is extensive research on these trends, which fuels the concern about changing citizen values. However, these critiques miss the larger picture. Americans still value good citizenship, but conceptions of citizenship are changing. Rather than emphasizing the dutiful aspects of citizenship, more people today have a more engaged notion of what it means to be a good citizen. They believe that a good citizen participates in politics beyond elections, emphasizes autonomy and skepticism of government, and is concerned for those in need at home and abroad. These are also positive traits for good citizens. So it is not that good citizenship has declined, but the meaning of the concept of citizenship has changed. The 2014 General Social Survey asked respondents a battery of nine questions to rate the importance of various citizenship traits. 3 Obeying the law, paying taxes, voting and similar items constituted one common emphasis, labeled “duty” in Figure 1. 4 Participating in social groups, concern for others, being cautious about government, and related items represented the other broad definition, called “engaged” citizenship in the figure. As seen in Figure 1, this shift in citizenship norms has a strong generational component. Across generations there is a steady decline in duty-based citizenship; this is

Engaged

0.1

-0.1

-0.3

Boomers

1960s

Source: 2014 General Social Survey

1980s

Gen X

Millennials

Generation

Figure 1. Change in Citizenship Norms by Generation

more assertive style of participation. Some differences are just different – not a decline in democracy unless these changes are ignored or resisted. The

if young people don’t vote their views aren’t represented. But the larger lesson involves why youth are not voting. A disproportionate number of youth are

rest of this essay considers the potential consequences of changing citizenship norms for participation in politics.

critical of politicians and political parties because their behavior often falls short of reasonable expectations. Too often young people read of politicians indicted on corruption charges or placing partisan posturing ahead of the public interest, and they are not as accepting of this behavior as are many older Americans. Many young people are simply turned off by partisan politics. This begins a downward spiral in which politicians then focus their attention on the issues of concern for older citizens who do vote, and overlook the issues of youth. Young people are then further alienated. This cycle continues; the Current Population Survey reports that

Changing Patterns of Political Participation The debate on the political implications generational change often focuses on political participation. Some of the strongest expression of angst over younger Americans involves claims they are uninvolved in the community, disinterested in Washington politics and don’t vote as often as past generations. Instead, young people seem glued to their iPhone or iPad, watching YouTube or playing video games – or bowling

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only 38 percent of people under age 25 election. This behavior seems paradoxical voted in the 2012 general election. considering the effort involved; it’s just Much has been written on this topic, a short walk from the campus to the and I heartily agree that we need to nearest polling station, but almost a directly address the factors eroding two thousand-mile drive across country. youth turnout. A variety of groups have However, this example illustrates some of worked on this issue, and since 1996 the ways that the patterns of citizenship youth turnout has increased more than are changing. overall turnout. But this focus on election As youth turn away from partisan turnout has blinded awareness of how politics they turn toward direct forms of many young people are interested in action that often have a specific policy politics but participate in other ways. focus and are likely to yield demonstrable One example comes from the first results. Helping Hurricane Katrina or edition of my book that described a Sandy victims comes at a large cost, but group of students at the Claremont it also comes with large, direct benefits colleges. A Los Angeles Times article to those in need. And such volunteering introduced a student who had spent his activity is not limited to natural disasters. semester break as a volunteer helping For example, more than seventeen to salvage homes flooded by Hurricane thousand young people applied for Katrina. 5 The young man had rounded the Peace Corps in 2014, the highest up a group of student volunteers, in two decades for the fifty-year-old who then gave up their break to do organization. Teach for America began hard labor in the devastated region in 1990 with 500 college graduates who far from their campus. The gist of the volunteered to teach in disadvantaged article was that volunteering in 2005 schools; over 5,000 TfA instructors was at its highest percentage in the 25 were placed in 2014. Local volunteering years of the UCLA survey of college activities closer to home – for an freshmen. This experience was repeated environmental group, women’s program, as young people came to help with or other social needs – are naturally even the destruction of Hurricane Sandy in more common. Longitudinal studies 2012 and other social needs. The UCLA further show that those who volunteer survey found that volunteering in the for school-encouraged programs remain fall 2013 freshman class hit another more politically active when they become high point. The irony was that many of adults. When I volunteer for Habitat for these students had not voted in the last Generations Humanity, I am generally older than the Figure 2. Participation Levels across

Voted

80 70

Percent Active

60 50

Gave funds Social, political cause

Boycotted

30 Demonstrated

Internet Political Forum

10 0 Prewar

Boomers

Sixties

Source: 2004 & 2014 General Social Surveys

Eighties

Generation

Figure 2. Participation Levels Across Generations

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Gen X

Millennials

median participant. It is not that I am old (I hope), it is that the others are young people mobilized by school groups, church groups, and other youth-centered organizations. This is part of the ethos of youth to be more concerned about strangers in need. Other forms of direct action – protesting or signing petitions – are also appealing to young Americans. In recent decades political consumerism has become more common: buying or boycotting a product for political, moral or ethical reasons. These activities appeal to young people who avoid jeans made by sweatshop labor and buy free trade coffee at Starbucks (while complaining that not all Starbucks products meet this standard). Young Americans also embrace online forms of activism that might be invisible to their parents and especially grandparents. Online petitions, news sharing, and Facebook affiliations are now well known, but only because they have become ubiquitous. If you don’t play video games you might not know that while playing World of Warcraft you could buy a Cinder Kitten as a virtual pet for $10, which was contributed to Hurricane Sandy relief. These gamers contributed over $2 million for Sandy Relief, repeating a pattern from earlier years to aid tsunami victims in Japan and support for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Kickstart’s success in raising billions for social projects has spawned Nationbuilder.com for political fundraising; young people are heavily represented among these online givers despite their limited income. This anecdotal evidence also appears in representative studies of American’s political participation in 2004 and 2014 (see Figure 2). 6 The General Social Survey found that younger people reported the lowest voting turnout in the previous presidential election (although participation normally increases as people get older). But this age gradient does not carry over to all forms of action. As might be expected, the Millennial Generation reports the highest level of participation in a protest and joining an Internet political forum. A recent Pew study focused on Internet participation found youth are disproportionately drawn to a range of online political activities.7

AS YOUTH TURN AWAY FROM PARTISAN POLITICS THEY TURN TOWARD DIRECT FORMS OF ACTION THAT OFTEN HAVE A SPECIFIC POLICY FOCUS AND ARE LIKELY TO YIELD DEMONSTRABLE RESULTS. In short, well-known age differences in voting are not generalized to all forms of activism. Many more young Americans are socially and politically active than we typically realize, in part because their different visions of good citizenship lead them to participate in

autonomy and skepticism of government, and are concerned with the condition of those who are less well off. My research also finds that engaged citizens are more politically tolerant and stronger supporters of democratic values. Perhaps the most obvious concern

different ways than their elders. Don’t wait until the next election; “take action now and do something that matters” could be the mantra for young citizens. Thus, if you add the “old” and “new” forms of participation, today Americans are more politically engaged then they were a generation or two ago. This is the good news that is missed by only counting ballots.

is that youth are turning away from electoral politics. The two Obama campaigns suggest that this trend can partially be limited by actively addressing the issue concerns of the young, and systematically mobilizing them to vote. But young people’s alienation from electoral politics runs deeper. Youth are drawn to political figures who appear to be forthright and not acting with ideological or partisan blinders, and politicians who seems more concerned with people than with large lobbyist groups. But such traits are not in abundant supply in Washington. Moreover, many proposals for electoral reform to increase voting ignore the special needs and circumstances of young voters; often this ignorance is intentional. The young have always voted less often than older voters, but this gap can be narrowed if we understand the circumstances producing it. Finally, engaged citizens make politics more complicated because people will challenge the government and actively pursue their political interests. School board meetings, city councils, and planning board meetings were more tranquil in the past. So it is not surprising that government officials and some political commentators look back to the quieter, gentler times of American politics with envy. Some pundits even worry that contentious citizens will erode the democratic process. But this depends on how we as a nation respond to these changes. There is mounting empirical evidence that assertive

Rethinking Citizenship A key to understanding the changing nature of the American public are the two faces of citizenship discussed in this essay. Citizenship has traditionally emphasized the duties and responsibilities of a good citizen. This meant respect for the law, paying taxes, and asking not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Many Americans, especially older Americans, embrace this definition of good citizenship. These feelings of citizen duty are one of the strengths of American democracy; they stimulate many people to participate in the electoral process, contribute to the nation’s needs, and encourage the social capital that benefits the nation. However, a growing proportion of young Americans are adopting an alternative view of good citizenship. This other “good citizen” participates in a variety of social and political activities beyond elections (and often views elections and parties negatively). Engaged citizens emphasize the need for

citizens actually make government more accountable and more effective. In summary, younger Americans expect a different style and content of politics. But different doesn’t necessarily mean that democracy will suffer. In fact, the values of young, engaged citizens offer the potential to strengthen the democratic order. Thus, the current challenge for American democracy isn’t to convince young people to act like their grandparents – as too many analysts imply – but to understand their changing values and norms, and respond in ways that integrate them into the political process and thereby strengthen democracy.

Notes 1. Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Renewal of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000; Martin Wattenberg, Is Voting for Young People? 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 2011; Mark Bauerlein, The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30). New York: Tarcher, 2008; Jean Twenge and W. Keith Campbell, The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. New York: Free Press, 2010. 2. Russell J. Dalton, The Good Citizen: How a Younger Generation is Reshaping American Politics, 2nd ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, forthcoming 2015); also see Cliff Zukin, Scott Keeter, Moly Andolina, Krista Jenkins, and Michael X. Delli Carpini, A New Engagement? Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. 3. Dalton, The Good Citizen, ch. 2-3. 4. The figure is based on a principal components analysis that identifies two clusters of survey questions in 2014, and then gives score for each respondent in the survey. The figure plots the mean scores on both clusters by generation. 5. Stuart Silverstein, “More freshmen help others, survey finds.” Los Angeles Times, January 26, 2006. 6. This figure presents the percentage who have done the activity, combining results from the 2004 and 2014 GSS to provide a larger sample size. In addition, this enables us to include results from the prewar generation drawn largely from the 2004 survey, and the Millennial generation drawn largely from the 2014 survey. The Internet activity item was only asked in 2004. 7. Aaron Smith, “Civic Engagement in the Digital Age,” April 25, 2013. Pew Center’s Internet and the American Life Project (http:// www.pewinternet.org/2013/04/25/civicengagement-in-the-digital-age/).

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Special Orders

DOES HOPE ABIDE? MILLENNIAL ACTIVISTS AND THE 2008 OBAMA CAMPAIGN Molly W. Andolina | DePaul University and Krista Jenkins | Fairleigh Dickinson University

hen Barack Obama was elected in 2008, among the many accolades he received was his ability to attract youth, or Millennials, to

employing social media to reach young adults, engage them on the issues, draw on their volunteer potential, and connect them to one another. The campaign opened youth offices in key

the world of politics.1 As Peter Levine points out in this issue of Extensions, young adults have always trailed older cohorts in their participation at the polls. This trend reversed somewhat in the 2004 contest, just as Millennials finally comprised a majority of the under-24 cohort. In that election, 47 percent of youth voted – a big jump from the 36 percent of 18- to 24- year-olds who voted in 2000. Turnout went up again in 2008, with almost half (49 percent) of youth voting, but fell to 41 percent in 2012. The gains in youth participation in the first part of the century were the result of a host of factors, in which historical events and intentional efforts came together to form the perfect storm. The dominant issues in the 2008 election were especially salient to youth. Millennials expressed concerns about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the faltering economy, and the lack of access to health care. Young adults were also clearly to the left on such prominent social issues as gay marriage, the legalization of marijuana and immigration. 2 The increased salience of key issues helped boost youth engagement and was aided by intentional efforts to engage this key demographic. Targeted efforts to increase voter turnout is often key to mobilizing large numbers of voters, and youth are no exception. 3 Obama’s campaign was especially adept,

battleground states and reached out to students on college campuses. 4

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Crowds cheer Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama during a Sept. 21, 2008 campaign stop in Charlotte, NC.

Finally, there was the candidate himself. Obama was the first major party candidate who did not carry the mantel of an earlier era characterized by the Vietnam War and the culture war

of the 1980s. 5 He also represented the racial diversity that is a hallmark of this generation.

The Obama Presidency For many Millennials, the Obama years illustrate what they know about political leaders and the process. The past six years have been an important socializing experience and, as we come upon the end of this administration, it remains an open question about what lessons the Millennials have learned. Political socialization scholars argue that the impressionable years, occurring between the ages of 17 and 25, are especially significant for an individual’s political orientations over the life course. Although not set in stone, the general values and habits of early adulthood remain fairly constant over the course of one’s life. If you vote while young, chances are you will continue to show up at the polls with regularity for the rest of your life. And, if at 18 you favor one political party over the other, you will most likely vote for its representatives in subsequent elections. 6 These relationships are even stronger when considering activists. Longitudinal studies of young adults who were involved in the activist movements of the 1960s, for example, show them to be consistent in their political orientations and behaviors as they age.7 Looking back, there is room for both optimism and pessimism – or realism – when we consider how events unfolded during the Obama years. First, there is the economy. By many objective measures, and according to media pundits, the economy is roaring back to life. The stock market is now double

Krista Jenkins is professor of political science and executive director of Public Mind at Farleigh Dickinson University. She is co-author of A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen (2006).

Molly W. Andolina is associate professor of political science at DePaul University. She is co-author of A New Engagement?: Political Participation, Civic Life, and the Changing American Citizen (2006).

what it was when Obama took office and job creation is approximately five times what it was in 2008. However for many, especially Millennials, economic recovery remains elusive.

office. Aggregate data help to answer the question, “How have Millennials reacted to what they have witnessed?” For starters, although the partisan gap between Millennials and older

to suggest the Obama years did not unequivocally sour an entire cohort to the political process. To wit, Pew finds the following: 49 percent of Millennials believe the country’s best years are

Second, consider the war, or wars, to be exact. During the Obama years, the United States has seen troop commitments fall and rise again in both Iraq and Afghanistan. To the extent that Millennials (and anyone else) believed that this president would bring an end to combat missions in both regions and result in the withdrawal of American forces serving in harm’s way, this has not come to pass. In the intervening years, the nation has not endured another terrorist attack. However, the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp remains open, and the once hopeful Arab Spring has produced a rash of instability, civil wars, and general atrocities in many parts of the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. And finally, as for health care, Millennials have seen the passage of one of the biggest legislative accomplishments since the 1960s. At the same time, many Millennials preferred more ambitious legislative change and wanted to see the system move away from one driven by profit to one modeled on Medicare, or a singlepayer system. Thus, one of the singular biggest accomplishments of the Obama years could potentially be somewhat of a mixed bag among Millennials. Public opinion polls provide insight into what Millennials think politically. Their enthusiasm for the Obama administration was on apt display when they voted for him in historic numbers, although events transpired to both confirm and call into question the expectations they had for his years in

cohorts remains, it is smaller than it was in 2008 and 2012. Pew reports Democratic identification among Millennials at 27 percent, down from 35 percent in 2008. Millennials, like older cohorts, have gravitated toward independence over a major party in recent years.

ahead, and over half (53 percent) say that despite the fact they’re not earning enough now to live the life they want, they believe they will in the years ahead. And the majority continue to endorse the Democratic president’s orientation to the role of government in the economy: 53 percent of Millennials

AS FOR HOW MILLENNIALS RATE THE PRESIDENT’S JOB PERFORMANCE, APPROVAL AMONG MILLENNIALS, WHILE FALLING AS IT HAS AMONG ALL AGE GROUPS, CONTINUES TO BE HIGHER THAN THAT OF ANY OTHER COHORT. As for how Millennials rate the President’s job performance, approval among Millennials, while falling as it has among all age groups, continues to be higher than that of any other cohort. Relatedly, Millennials are the least likely to say the President evokes feelings of disappointment. Forty-four percent of Millennials say they feel disappointed in Obama, compared with half or more among older age cohorts. 8 Other indicators point to the continued optimism Millennials feel about the future. By no means do pollsters find Pollyanna-ish views among this generation, but there is evidence

prefer a bigger government that provides more social services rather than a pared-down version with fewer services.

Generational Lessons Poll numbers, although helpful, offer limited insight into what the Obama years have taught this generation about politics, the political system, and their own political efficacy. The Obama years are potentially rife with lessons related to politics and Millennials are uniquely poised to have been affected by the intervening years. That is, they went extensions | Summer 2015

into the last six years with heightened enthusiasm and interest for someone whom they supported in record numbers, and with clear ideas about what they wanted to see happen. This is especially true among those who were so motivated that they made the extra effort to become active in the campaign as volunteers. To investigate the effects of the Obama years on activist youth, we contacted young adults who had been highly engaged in the original campaign. At the time of the 2008 election, they were enrolled in local colleges in the Chicago area, volunteered (or were recruited to volunteer) in the early stages of the campaign, and continued throughout the 2008 contest. Some rose to paid positions; others volunteered their time and energy. All were heavily involved and highly committed to Obama’s election. We interviewed a sample of these young men and women to see what drew them to the campaign and, more importantly, how they evaluate both the President and the political system, looking back over the last six years. As with any qualitative research using a small number of respondents,

understanding of what the Obama years have taught this generation about a system that, to many, has been seen only through the prism of Obama’s successes and failures. What we know from public opinion data is richly enhanced through the commentary that follows. We used a snowball sampling method to locate a dozen activists who were identified by our personal and professional contacts as members of the generation who were active in the 2008 campaign. Each individual was invited to participate in a study of activists from Obama’s 2008 campaign. In total, nine responded to our request and six ultimately completed our questionnaire. In all but one case, respondents provided their answers in written form, with one interview conducted in person. We asked our respondents about their past involvement in politics, what inspired them to work for the Obama campaign, and their expectations for what the Obama years would bring for the nation. We queried them about their perceptions of Obama’s successes and failures (and the causes of each), as well as what they perceived as the lessons from the Obama years, and their overall

campaigns, and decided to opt for the latter, not necessarily for policy reasons, but because the campaign allowed them to play significant roles in the process. Indeed, many of these young men and women spoke about having leaders in the campaign show interest in their ideas or providing them campaign opportunities that amounted to significantly “more than phone banking.” Others spoke of wanting to “be part of something big.” One recalled an early encounter with the candidate himself. This activist had volunteered for the Illinois legislature when Obama was a state senator and running for the US Senate. As he recalls: “While sitting at the page desk waiting for a committee meeting to start, Senator Obama turned to me and asked me about myself. He asked what I planned to do after graduation. What’s more, he remembered my answer and mentioned it in passing next time I saw him on the elevator or on the floor. I was taken by his genuine nature and charisma right from the start.” Importantly, however, the young men and women in our sample did not volunteer simply because of the historic nature of the campaign. Certainly, the

INDEED, THESE YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN

DO NOT SEE THE PRESIDENT AS INFALLIBLE, OR AS A VICTIM OF THE SYSTEM, BUT RATHER AS A FLAWED LEADER WHO IS NOT ALWAYS ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS “VISION” EITHER BECAUSE HE DIDN’T FULLY ARTICULATE HIS ARGUMENT FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE OR HE WAS CLUMSY OR EVEN ARROGANT IN HIS INTERACTIONS WITH CONGRESS. caution should be exercised in taking what we heard as the gospel truth of a youthful response to the Obama presidency. Millenials are atypical not only in their activism and educational attainment but political leanings as well. Not everyone in their age cohort embraced the “hope” and “change” mantra of the Obama campaign. Some voted for his opponent, and many others decided to remain on the sidelines in 2008. However, the interviews we conducted provide texture to our

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“takeaway” from their experience as a supporter and citizen during the Obama presidency. Many – but not all – of these activists had campaign experience prior to working on the Obama team, but none of them had previously been involved in a presidential contest. Many mentioned the Senator’s speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention as planting a seed for their interest, but others acknowledged that they had considered both the Clinton and Obama

opportunity to elect the first female president provided a similar inducement as working to elect the first black president did. And it was more than the cult of personality, as many of them spoke of the ways in which their policy positions aligned with the candidate’s. We heard this most often in terms of the end to the wars in Afghanistan and, even more so, Iraq, in the fight for health care, and in their concerns for the economy and addressing inequality. But these young people were also clearly

aware of the ways in which their policy positions diverged from Obama’s, with the volunteers almost always citing more liberal positions than the candidate’s. They spoke of their support for gay marriage (which the president did not endorse until late in his first term),

inexperience. But it also appears that the long odds that they felt they worked so hard to overcome in electing Obama also led them to believe that the challenges of governing might be conquered, or at least thwarted somewhat.

opposition to the death penalty (which he endorses), and concern for the use of drones and the surveillance state (both stances that the president has continued to embrace). After working in the trenches during the campaign, these young adults recalled the elation they felt when President Obama was elected. As

One activist’s remarks about how she felt on election night 2008 are prescient in predicting that perhaps Obama’s shoulders were not broad enough to support the behemoth expectations put upon him by voters. She told us, “As I walked home from the subway that night, people were in the streets, banging pots and pans, throwing toilet

ideas” because of his transcendental status as the “first black president,” and “bringing bipartisanship to Washington.” Others were more concrete, focusing on tangible policy accomplishments, such as advancing the cause of gay rights. They frequently mirrored the expectations of those interviewed in exit polls. “Bringing universal health care to the country,” closing Guantanamo Bay, addressing income inequality, and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were cited by virtually all of our respondents. Again, however, their enthusiasm for Obama was tempered with realistic caution. The same young activist who lamented the possibility that he would “not be able to live up to the dream he sold” also said she “felt nervous for him because it seemed to me so much of his campaign was about ideals and visions, rather than concrete policy changes.” As for what they understand to be his successes, even though many expressed frustration at the final product, the Affordable Care Act is seen as a “massive accomplishment, regardless of its imperfections.” The most common source of frustration that these young people expressed about the ACA was that it wasn’t the comprehensive change they wanted, such as a universal or single-payer system. Other accomplishments include implementation of the Common Core State Standards, executive actions around immigration reform and the DREAM Act, ending the decades-long estrangement with Cuba, improving US relations with other countries, advancing the cause of gender equity, and drawing

one activist who was traveling abroad observed, “I saw first-hand how the international community changed their perspective of America immediately. There was a big change in how [people from my host country] treated me as a person after Obama was elected.” Another noted how the world seemed to relish the change from Bush to Obama: “After the election, people heard my accent and would thank me on the street for electing President Obama.” Looking back now, however, many of these young activists realize that they had unrealistic expectations. Some of this they blame on their own naiveté, and they are willing to accept responsibility for their youthful

paper, singing out loud. As I observed my neighbors celebrating, I could not help but think Obama may not be able to live up to the dream he sold. As a white, privileged woman I felt Obama, given his upbringing, had more in common with me that he did with my impoverished, immigrant neighbors. But yet they celebrated the victory as if it was a personal victory. I felt a nervous excitement for the next four years.” Despite the reservations of those who felt too much was being expected of the newly elected young president, the activists believed he would accomplish quite a bit once inaugurated. They spoke of “a breath of fresh air,” the ability to enact some “very bold policy

down forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. When asked to elaborate on what did not get accomplished and why, the overwhelming sentiment from this group of activists was that there was an information vacuum left by a president whose audacity enabled him to create legislation that was, at times, historic but who was ill-prepared for the politics that followed. The Republican Party, according to them, took advantage of his communication weaknesses and swooped in to define Obama’s policies to the American people, often in a way that misrepresented key aspects. One told us, “Obama’s defeats, I think, mostly stem from his poor job of communicating to the American public.

Supporters of democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium on August 28, 2008 in Denver, Colorado.

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The Republican Party seems to have steered the debate for the past eight years. Had it been the other way around, I believe we would have seem more victories for President Obama.” He went on to say, “I think my big takeaway is the importance of controlling the narrative of a policy agenda. That the Republican Party was able to convince so many Americans that the health care law was going to be harmful is absurd. This is just one example, but this failure to communicate the benefits of policies put out by the administration is, I think, the Obama administration’s largest failing.” Indeed, these young men and women do not see the President as infallible, or as a victim of the system, but rather as a flawed leader who is not always able to accomplish his “vision” either because he didn’t fully articulate his argument for the American people or he was clumsy or even arrogant in his interactions with Congress. One activist, in describing his frustration that the ACA did not include a single-payer option, compared President Obama to President Clinton, who was a much better “salesperson.” President Obama, he argued, “over-calculated his own political capital and miscalculated the political resistance.” Yet many of these activists were matter-of-fact in explaining the president’s defeats, chalking it up more to the inevitable setbacks that all presidents face given our system of checks and balances. “There’s only so much one person in his position can do in eight years,” said one. Indeed, even the activist who had criticized President Obama’s salesmanship ultimately

process than ever before,” she told us. “More people volunteered, more people gave money, more people voted because they were excited about the American process. A lot can be said about the campaign process being all about who has the most money or the most power but at the end of the day if everyone turned out to vote that would not be true … a lot can be done through the power of organizing, which we saw.” A few maintained this hope and faith, albeit tempered. Indeed, one activist even argued that her “takeaway” of the Obama presidency is that “we can have a president that really speaks for us. Democracy sometimes allows for that.” When asked directly if they had become more or less optimistic over the years, the majority of our activists argued that the intervening six years had left them increasingly cynical. They mentioned “the pettiness of Washington, DC” and their disgust with the ability of powerful moneyed interests to exert influence, especially in campaigns. One young man spoke of the changes in campaigns due to, among other influences, the Citizens United decision. “The fact that you need at least a $1M now to run for a House seat (even state in some places) shuts so many people out of running from the start ... Even though at the end of the day smart people who truly want to do good can prevail, they just don’t because they don’t even try.” Whether this cynicism about the system is a natural part of the aging process and might have happened regardless of whom they supported in the 2008 election, or regardless of how involved they were in the process, it is

concluded, “I don’t blame him.” Another argued that the news “media and the campaign made the presidency seemed like it was able to solve many problems, when in reality even the leader of the free world has many limits.”

hard to say. What we do know, however, is that this cadre of engaged, dedicated activists is significantly less sanguine than it was six years ago. Yet, with one exception, the larger takeaway for these youth is still hope. And, for many, it is the hope built from experience. Despite expressing deep frustrations with partisan politics, the news media and the role of money in elections, they spoke about their faith in activism. When asked about the lessons of the Obama years, one young person told us “making meaningful change is hard, but change is still worth pushing for.” Another spoke of moving from the early improbability of electing a black man from Illinois to victory. “And

Waning Optimism When these young men and women speak of the election of 2008, one can still hear echoes of both their abiding enthusiasm for the candidate and their deep optimism about the country. One young woman spoke of her reaction to the victory, explaining that it vindicated her belief in American democracy. “Obama brought more people into the

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not only did we win, we won big,” he said. “We got more people excited and involved in an election than ever before. Not only were people voting, they were waiting hours to vote because they were that excited. And all for someone who probably even 15 years ago could never have been elected because of how he looked. Amazing things can happen if people want them to but they have to keep wanting them.” Perhaps the story of these activists is more nuanced than simply their frustrations with the president’s failures, his retreat to moderation, the triumph of his political enemies, or the dysfunction of the system. Perhaps it is, at this early stage, a story about hopefulness tempered with realism. Time will tell what the enduring lessons of the last six years will be for Millennials as they head toward middle age. For now, however, one young activist captures what we believe remains a hallmark of her generation – optimism. “Do not give up hope. The Obamas of the world may be few and far between but they are out there and have the capability of changing our country and changing the world.”

Notes 1. We use the term Millennials to describe those born after 1980. 2. “Portrait of Generation Next,” Pew Research Center, January 9, 2007. http://www. people-press.org/2007/01/09/a-portrait-ofgeneration-next/. 3. Donald P. Green and Alan S. Gerber, Get Out the Vote: How to Increase Voter Turnout (Washington, DC: Brookings, 2008). 4. Kate Kenski, Bruce W. Hardy, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, The Obama Victory: How Media, Money, and Message Shaped the 2008 Election (New York: Oxford, 2010). 5. Andrew Sullivan, “Goodbye to all that: Why Obama Matters,” The Atlantic Monthly, December 2007. 6. See, for example, David Sears “Political Socialization,” in Handbook of Political Science, edited by Fred Greenstein and Nelson Polsby (Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975). 7. M. Kent Jennings, “Residues of a Movement: The Aging of the Protest Generation,” American Political Science Review 81:367-82, 1987. 8. “Millennials in Adulthood,” The Pew Research Center, March 7, 2014. http://www. pewsocialtrends.org/2014/03/07/chapter-1political-trends

DO FACTS MATTER?

Information and Misinformation in American Politics ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

JENNIFER L. HOCHSCHILD AND KATHERINE LEVINE EINSTEIN A democracy falters when most of its citizens are uninformed or misinformed, when misinformation affects political decisions and actions, or when political actors foment misinformation—the state of affairs the United States faces today, as this timely book makes painfully clear. In Do Facts Matter? Jennifer L. Hochschild and Katherine Levine Einstein start with Thomas Jefferson’s ideal citizen, who knows and uses correct information to make policy or political choices. What, then, the authors ask, are the consequences if citizens are informed but do not act on their knowledge? More serious, what if they do act, but on incorrect information? $29.95 HARDCOVER · 248 PAGES ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

VOLUME 13 IN THE JULIAN J. ROTHBAUM DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERIES

Analyzing the use, nonuse, and misuse of facts in various cases—such as the call to impeach Bill Clinton, the response to global warming, Clarence Thomas’s appointment to the Supreme Court, the case for invading

Iraq, beliefs about Barack Obama’s birthplace and religion, and the Affordable Care Act—Hochschild and Einstein argue persuasively that errors of commission (that is, acting on falsehoods) are even more troublesome than errors of omission. While citizens’ inability or unwillingness to use the facts they know in their political decision making may be frustrating, their acquisition and use of incorrect “knowledge” pose a far greater threat to a democratic political system. Do Facts Matter? looks beyond individual citizens to the role that political elites play in informing, misinforming, and encouraging or discouraging the use of accurate or mistaken information or beliefs. Hochschild and Einstein show that if a well-informed electorate remains a crucial component of a successful democracy, the deliberate concealment of political facts poses its greatest threat.

THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY INSTITUTION. WWW.OU.EDU/EOO

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For the Record

THE MILLENNIALS: REFLECTIONS OF CARL ALBERT CENTER ALUMNI The Carl Albert Center offers scholarly and real-world experience to undergraduate students across Oklahoma through a variety of fellowships and programs:

Civic Engagement Fellows Selected OU undergraduate students pursue civic education and voter mobilization activities on the OU campus and/ or in the community. Fellows also develop their own civic engagement projects, which have included registering new high school-aged voters, creating a youth council, and establishing programs to engage women in politics.

Dana Mohammad-Zadeh Dana Mohammad-Zadeh is a 2012 graduate of the University of Oklahoma and a participant in the Carl Albert Center’s N.E.W. Leadership Institute. She was the 2012 recipient of the Carl Albert Award, presented each year to the outstanding senior in the OU College of Arts and Sciences. N.E.W. Leadership remains a memorable experience

Undergraduate Research Fellows

from my undergraduate years, and an empowering step

Selected OU undergraduate students collaborate with a professor on social science research on government accountability, public policy and representation. Past projects have regularly led to co-authored papers for students with their mentor professors and, on occasion, to publications.

on my journey of civic engagement.

Capitol and Community Scholars

evaluating the implementation of a large-scale financial

Selected OU undergraduate students participate in service learning in public affairs or policy-related internships. Capitol Scholars spend the spring semester in and around the Oklahoma Legislature, gaining a unique learning experience in the process of public policymaking in the state. Community Scholars are placed in community-based internships during the fall semester with nonprofit organizations or local government entities in and around Norman and Oklahoma City, experiencing firsthand the dynamics of working within community-based organizations. Both internship experiences are enriched through weekly seminars and briefings with state leaders.

N.E.W. Leadership This award-winning, statewide leadership development program seeks to address the underrepresentation of women in public service and elective office. Each year some 36 undergraduate women from institutions across Oklahoma, as well as Oklahoma residents attending an outof-state college or university, are selected to participate. The program includes hands-on projects, skill-building workshops, presentations and panels featuring prominent Oklahoma women officeholders, public administrators, community advocates, and business leaders, and networking opportunities with women leaders.

Upon graduating from the University of Oklahoma with degrees in economics and international studies, I moved abroad to work as the reporting and communications officer of a team monitoring and governance project in Afghanistan. There, I developed an interest in accounting and finance, which led me back to the U.S. to pursue graduate studies. This past May, I graduated with a master of accounting degree from the University of Southern California. Currently, I am pursuing my CPA license and plan to start working for KPMG this year. At OU, I had the opportunity to develop my leadership skills by way of co-founding The Oklahoma Group, a student-run, student-led organization that continues to provide pro bono consulting services to nonprofit organizations in Oklahoma. Student participation continues to be strong and demonstrates the market for other opportunities for civic engagement. Additionally, I served as an intern and team leader on projects related to economic development and technology commercialization at OU’s Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth. Attending N.E.W. Leadership made me realize that civic engagement on local and international levels is essential. I was most inspired by how women with differing political views can gather to discuss public service, leadership, and the advancement of women in civic society. I continue to keep in touch with and support friends I made during N.E.W. Leadership.

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Kian Ball Kamas A 2008 graduate of the University of

Evan DeFilippis Evan DeFilippis graduated from

Oklahoma, Kian Ball Kamas was a Carl

the University of Oklahoma in

Albert Center Civic Engagement Fellow

2013. At the Carl Albert Center, he

and the 2008 recipient of the Carl Albert

served as both a Capitol Scholar and

Award. After graduation, she spent a year

Undergraduate Research Fellow. He

in Scotland earning a master’s degree from

held several positions as a student at

the University of Edinburgh. Since returning

OU working on business development

to Oklahoma, she worked for the City of

and technology research for the Center

Owasso and then joined the Tulsa Chamber of Commerce , as

for the Creation of Economic Wealth and the Office of

vice president for government affairs and now vice president

the Vice President for Strategic Planning and Economic

for economic development.

Development.

In an age when it seems the only news coming out of

After graduating from OU, I became a project associate

government and politics tell of dysfunction, when hyper-

at Innovations for Poverty Action. For a year, I worked in

partisanship and grandstanding often take the place of governing,

Nairobi, Kenya, managing the evaluation of large-scale

and when election results show shockingly low turnout among

poverty reduction programs. There, I did a number of

all voter groups, I often wonder how even the most dedicated

exciting things, including piloting a microfinance program

of citizens might have a positive impact and not become

and communicating directly with the senior economic

disillusioned. However, while these descriptors are all too true

advisor to the President of Kenya about our research

in many ways and at multiple levels of government and politics,

findings.

my work in my home state of Oklahoma, and more specifically

Over the last two years, my co-author, Devin Hughes,

in the Tulsa area, continuously validates my decision to remain

and I have been writing about gun violence at our

civically and politically engaged. Each day I have the opportunity

website ArmedWithReason.com. Our work has been

to forge partnerships among business, municipal, nonprofit,

published in The Atlantic, Slate, Politico, Washington Post,

education, tribal, and a multitude of other leaders throughout the

Vox, Huffington Post, Boston Review, and many others.

Tulsa region.

Recently, I was interviewed on NPR discussing the “Myth of

The key in maintaining this engagement, as I see it, is partnerships and a recognition that change is only initiated and

Defensive Gun Use.” The Carl Albert Center was instrumental in preparing

sustained by a committed group of leaders, working together

me for success in my current career path. During my time

toward a common goal and vision. In an increasingly polarized

as a Capital Scholar, for example, I regularly authored policy

environment, however, building partnerships and identifying a

memos that were distributed among Democrats in the

shared vision become arduous tasks, requiring compromise and

Oklahoma House of Representatives. I worked for several

patience, skills which have somehow diminished in far too many

Democratic leaders in the House and as a communication

public servants and engaged citizens. Yet without compromise

and policy specialist for the Democratic minority caucus.

and patience, we are left staked out on either “side of the aisle,”

Memo writing is an extremely important skill in public

so busy standing on principles that we fail to realize we have

policy, and I spent a lot of time in Nairobi writing similar

lost sight of our overall intentions and often cause more harm

memos, summarizing the results of projects I was working

than good.

on. Because of my experience as a Capitol Scholar, I also

As a Civic Engagement Fellow with the Carl Albert Center

was confident in my ability to convey policy information

from 2005 to 2008, I had the opportunity to begin to refine

to political leaders, which was essential when I had to do

skills that I consider crucial to building partnerships, the

the same with political leaders in Kenya. Working as a Carl

most important of which was fostering open, civil dialog on

Albert Research Fellow also gave me experience sifting

public issues. As I continue to see on a daily basis, a public,

through academic research and learning how best to render

contemplative process is the foundation of engagement on any

complex academic conclusions accessible to a broader

issue – from local zoning decisions to consideration of public tax

community, which is a key skill I employ when writing about

initiatives to passage of state and federal laws. Processes such

gun violence.

as these must be shepherded by leaders who are committed to

I currently live in Buenos Aires and aspire to complete

inclusion, and cognizant of the need for compromise. Programs

my education in public policy and business with the goal

such as those sponsored by the Carl Albert Center will continue

of starting my own business to improve public health in

to mentor leaders dedicated to the principles Carl Albert himself

the developing world. I will continue to be an advocate to

exemplified – “a conciliator and seeker of consensus, a patient

reduce gun violence.

persuader … trusted for his fairness and integrity.”

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Ally Glavas

of the Year gala to speaking on a panel at the Oklahoma Women’s Leadership Conference for Women in Public Service.

Ally Glavas is account executive for

Above all, the Carl Albert Center has given me mentors who

Candor PR, a full -service public relations

continue to positively impact me both professionally and

firm in Oklahoma City. Previously, she

personally. I hope to be able to mentor recent graduates, just

directed policy management at Pearson

like those who mentored me.

Public Affairs Group. A 2012 graduate of the University of Oklahoma, she served as

Amyie Vuong Kao

a Carl Albert Center Capitol Scholar and participant in N.E.W. Leadership. Like many who capitalize on the Carl Albert Center’s undergraduate programs, I spent four years at OU heavily

Amyie Vuong Kao is co-founder and co-owner of Mariposa Coffee Roastery, a small micro-roastery dedicated to artisanal

involved in student government, non-profit consulting, and

coffee , which supports community and

local politics. For example, the relationships I built during the

social justice. She also teaches nutrition

Capitol Scholars and the N.E.W. Leadership programs led to an

at Oklahoma City Community College. A

opportunity to run two city council races while still in school.

2006 graduate of OU, she participated as a

After a summer on the Hill in Washington, D.C., thanks to the Cortez A.M. Ewing Fellowship, I was determined to pursue

Civic Engagement Scholar and Community Scholar at the Carl Albert Center.

a career there just as every young starry-eyed politico dreams.

Neither my husband nor I came from great wealth so

Working in political fundraising for three separate entities in a

securing funds for our business has always felt challenging.

presidential election year gave me experiences I could never

At Mariposa, we balance the ideals of advocacy and social

have gained elsewhere, but I quickly missed my life in Oklahoma

entrepreneurship with the harsh realities of starting a small

and wanted to achieve a healthy life balance.

artisan business in Norman. We feel incredibly thankful to be

I found an opportunity back in Oklahoma City that is still in the political arena, but does not require the campaign lifestyle. As the director of policy management at Pearson Public Affairs

where we are today because of our Norman community and close family and friends. We recently sold our house and have gone back to

Group, I created and maintained issue-based coalitions that

renting because we believe it is important to source coffee in

impact public policy, at both the state and federal levels, by

an authentic manner and to strive towards being a responsible

motivating high-level constituents nationwide to communicate

company. There have been times that we felt incredibly

with elected officials.

discouraged by the disconnect between the academic ideals

The job gave me the opportunity to run issue-based

of social entrepreneurship and the fiscal cost of starting a

campaigns on immigration, Common Core, patent reform,

business that produces a quality product and gives back to the

environmental agency funding, GMO labeling laws, and

community.

insurance industry regulations in Utah, California, North

In 2014, I gave a TEDx talk about the relationship between

Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, and other western states. I recently

coffee growing communities and areas of economic water

moved to Candor PR, where I am responsible for managing

scarcity. Happily, Mariposa recently raised enough funds

day-to-day client activities, including research, planning, and

through partnerships with other Norman small businesses to

implementation and evaluation of public relations activities.

install a second water well at a coffee-growing community in

I continue to specialize in public affairs and messaging that

Rwanda. Because of my advocacy, I recently was asked to serve

moves stakeholders to action.

on the Norman Human Rights Commission.

While my work in public affairs is extremely satisfying and

As a whole, my time at the Carl Albert Center opened

challenging, I also sought a way to use the fundraising skills I

my eyes to the opportunities of civic engagement and

honed in D.C. to give back to my local community.

grassroots advocacy within the arenas of small business and

I helped to reorganize and am now chairing the Girl

coffee. Furthermore, I felt empowered as a female to lead

Scouts Young Professionals Group, which awards two college

whenever the opportunity arose. I am confident that it also has

scholarships annually to girls who achieve their Gold Award, the

shaped my decision to co-lead our small business instead of

highest Girl Scout honor. I hope to endow this scholarship fund

just taking a passive role.

in the next two years through our two signature fundraisers,

As we look to the future, my husband and I, with our two

Earn Your Shopping Badge and Cookies & Cocktails. Several

young daughters, are planning a trip to coffee origins with the

women from my days at the Carl Albert Center now serve

hope of building direct relationships with farmers, advocating

with me on these event planning and scholarship selection

for their needs to the coffee industry, and continuing to

committees.

install water wells in coffee-growing communities. Our larger

Even as a graduate and active alumna of N.E.W. Leadership,

hope is that we are able to grow in our ability to operate as

I continue to benefit from the opportunities the Carl Albert

a responsible company and increase our giving to initiatives

Center gives me -- from attending The Journal Record’s Women

locally and abroad.

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Forrest Bennett

the United Nations Association, which is a membership organization dedicated to inform, inspire, and mobilize the

Forrest Bennett is a 2013 graduate of

American people to support the ideals and vital work of the

the University of Oklahoma. He currently

United Nations. I also work with the various UN Foundation

is enrolled in OU’s master of public

campaigns.

administration program and serves as

I have learned that what I do outside of the 40-hour

a Boren Teaching Fellow. He was a Carl

work week greatly contributes to where I am at right now

Albert Center Capitol Scholar.

and helps me gain skills I did not learn in the classroom. My

After graduating from OU, I worked for

time with N.E.W. Leadership highly influenced my career

two years with a political consulting firm.

path. It helped me to identify what I was most passionate

Whether it is the government affairs work I am currently

about, which was women’s engagement and empowerment.

doing, the education advocacy work I’ve done in the last year,

Through N.E.W. Leadership, I realized how much I cared about

or instructing undergraduates in the political science 1113

women’s participation in society and how much of a positive

course, I draw on that experience. In every campaign, I learned

effect it has on communities. N.E.W. Leadership gave me the

more about specific policies and how government really

motivation to work toward a better future for women and girls

works, which is not always as it appears in textbooks. The

by focusing on their inclusion in the decision-making process.

most influential steps along the way to my current position

In the future, I hope to work for a nonprofit that has an

were working in campaigns and for incumbent legislators who

impact for women and girls on a local, national, or global

had a lot of real-world wisdom to impart.

level, for example, a project that fosters civic engagement

I am an alumni of the Capitol Scholars program, and

for women and youth of color on micro, mezzo, and macro

I absolutely would not be where I am today without it. I

levels of practice. Working overseas has always been a

worked for a legislator who has since become the executive

dream of mine and I am getting closer to achieving it through

director of a major advocacy organization in Oklahoma, and

my involvement with the United Nations Association, the

he has given me numerous opportunities since then. Through

United Nations Women’s Affinity Group, and UN Foundation

Capitol Scholars, I made connections with a wide variety of

campaigns. Entrepreneurship for social good – the idea of

people, many of whom have recommended me for other

connecting buying power to social impact – also is something I

opportunities.

also would like to try.

I am preparing to run for the Oklahoma House of Representatives. The election is in November 2016, but

Bailey Perkins

anyone who wants to win has to start pretty early these days. I hope to earn a seat in the legislature and work to provide

Bailey Perkins graduated in 2012 from

opportunities for high school and college students who are

Oklahoma City University and completed

interested in civic engagement.

her master of public administration degree at the University of Oklahoma

Priya Desai

in 2014. She participated in N.E.W. Leadership and later served as a

Priya Desai is a 2010 graduate of the

graduate assistant to the program. She

University of Oklahoma. She went on to

currently works as the Education and

earn her master’s degree in social work

Fiscal Policy Fellow for Arkansas Advocates for Children

with a concentration in administration

and Families.

and community practice. She now serves

N.E.W. Leadership greatly influenced my career path in

as assistant to the executive director of

public policy and helped prepare me for public service. My

the Regional University System of the

three years associated with the program exposed me to the

Oklahoma Board of Regents. She was a

challenges women face nationwide and the critical need

participant in N.E.W. Leadership while a student at Rose

for women’s leadership in a broad spectrum of fields. The

State Community College.

program also connected me to a network of powerful women

Since my time at N.E.W. Leadership, I have gained

in Oklahoma who personify what I desire to be: a change

experience in the nonprofit and public sectors with an

maker. Gaining mentors and friends with the outstanding

emphasis on advocacy for human and civil rights, social

women associated with N.E.W. Leadership, I followed my

justice action and community work both locally and globally,

passion and my dreams.

and program planning and evaluation in the areas of health,

I will never forget the day I went to a meeting full of

development, education and women’s engagement and

powerful women at the Oklahoma State Capitol. Lauren

empowerment.

Schueler, assistant director of N.E.W. Leadership, and I were

I currently serve as president of the United Nations Association Oklahoma City Chapter, a local chapter of

the youngest in the room. My first instinct was to sit in the back like an observer, but Lauren told me, “No, we’re a part of

extensions | Summer 2015

this meeting, too. Take your seat at the table.” That moment

me to pay attention to what is going on around me. I also

taught me that a leader doesn’t wait, but rather jumps in and

learned the value of having a voice and how to use it for good.

knows that she belongs at “the table” of decision making and

My experience with N.E.W. Leadership through the Carl

idea sharing. Millennials are often overlooked, undervalued, and

Albert Center equipped me with the tools and networks I needed to develop my passion for public service and to carry

stereotyped as careless, apathetic, and unengaged. This

out what I envision for Oklahoma today. N.E.W. Leadership

picture is incomplete because civic engagement involves

is where I was able to sit at the feet of well-known women

more than just showing up to the polls and knowing the

leaders who have served our great state. I was able to learn

names of your elected officials. Millennials are proving that

by listening to the challenges they faced and how they tackled

they can be influential and that their voice matters, especially

their obstacles for the betterment of Oklahoma’s future.

with the emergence of cyber communities and Millennials’

Through N.E.W. Leadership, I have been able to build strong

use of technology as a means to engage. Millennials deserve

and lasting relationships with my peers and other individuals

a lot more credit than they receive. They are shifting from

to work together to encourage young people to be involved

traditional means of engagement like political party affiliation

in the political process. Most importantly, N.E.W. Leadership

to issue advocacy and utilizing technology as a tool for

propelled me to begin my own journey as a woman leader

engagement.

in Oklahoma.

I’m currently in the middle of a two-year policy fellowship

I worked fulltime as a community programs manager

in Arkansas and I carry that wisdom every time I write a blog

for the Girls Scouts of Western Oklahoma until 2014, when I

post or policy brief or sit in a meeting with my colleagues

decided to run for state representative to have the opportunity

and stakeholders or testify before legislative committees

to be a voice at the table, just as my father instilled in me as a

at the Arkansas State Capitol. My life experiences coupled

young girl. Through my work in the nonprofit sector and my

with the advice I received remind me that I, too, have value

own life experiences, I felt that it was my duty to get out in my

and as a young, black woman leader. I am smart, capable,

district to share my vision for the future of our state and listen

and qualified to do meaningful work. Thank you, Carl Albert

to the visions of my neighbors. I worked incredibly hard with

Center, for contributing to my development and showing me

a great team and a lot of support, but I did not pull a victory.

that my seat exists at the table today. You equipped me to go

In the last few weeks, however, I have been given an exciting

out and be a leader today rather than sit on the sidelines as a

opportunity to try again in a special election that will be held

“future leader.”

this summer. I am grateful to be out in my district again to share my commitment and passion for northwest Oklahoma

Cyndi Munson

City and our state as a whole. This is also an opportunity for me to live out the promise I made to my family, friends and

Cyndi Munson is a 2007 graduate of

supporters in 2014.

the University of Central Oklahoma and was a participant in the 2006 class of N.E.W. Leadership. She spent a decade working in the nonprofit sector, including

Akash Patel Akash Patel is a 2014 graduate of the

the Girl Scouts of Western Oklahoma.

University of Oklahoma and served in

In the community, she serves as vice

the Carl Albert Center’s Capitol Scholars

chair of the Infant Crisis Services Young

program. He was the 2014 recipient of

Professionals Group , on the boards of the University of

the Carl Albert Award . He is the founder

Central Oklahoma Alumni Association and, the Oklahoma

and CEO of Aspiring Americans, a 501(c)

Messages Project, and as an alumni member of the

(3) sponsored by the Communities

Department of Corrections Leadership Academy.

Foundation of Oklahoma and dedicated

My story in public service always begins with my father. He served our country for 22 years in the United States Army, so political and civic engagement has always been a priority in

to helping undocumented students reach their educational potential. The University of Oklahoma’s motto – Civi et republicae;

our family. I remember growing up, sitting at the dining room

for the citizen and for the state – will always follow me. My

table reading newspapers and watching the news with him,

life changed because of my experiences at OU, especially the

and then anxiously awaiting the opportunity to ask questions.

opportunities the Carl Albert Center offered. Through Capitol

I would share my thoughts, listen to his thoughts and then try

Scholars, I interned with a state senator, an experience that

to come up with solutions for the challenges I was reading

would be the catalyst for my undergraduate career. Some of

and hearing about in the news. This daily exercise helped to

the lessons I learned at the State Capitol were disillusioning

develop my deep passion for my community. My father taught

but also profound.

extensions | Summer 2015

As a political science student, I read about

Will McPherson

gerrymandering, legislative hostage taking, and the excessive power of lobbyists. As an intern, I witnessed it. In the middle

Will McPherson serves as policy

of my internship, the senator I was working for was quoted on

advisor and legislative liaison in the

the news as being anti-undocumented immigrant: “Deport

office of Governor Mary Fallin. He is

them all” because “their gangs are taking over the streets.” My

a 2012 graduate of the University of

family had been undocumented immigrants. Our visitor visas

Oklahoma and received his master of

expired before we were approved for our green cards. As a

public administration degree in 2014. He

result, we spent 16 years classified as unauthorized immigrants

served as a Capitol Scholar at the Carl

until we received our green cards. The senator was familiar

Albert Center.

with my family’s plight. I confronted him about his opinion.

In my role as a policy advisor and legislative liaison, I work

“Undocumented students like me are the vast majority of the

closely with Governor Fallin, senior staff members, and cabinet

‘illegals’ you’re referring to,” I argued. “Many of them just want

secretaries to advance the governor’s agenda and implement

to get an education and contribute to Oklahoma – not take

meaningful reforms. Specifically, I work on developing and

anything away. And they didn’t have a choice in coming here

analyzing policy related to energy, environment and financial

to begin with.” The senator would not be swayed.

matters. A direct outgrowth of my Carl Albert Center

I decided then to seek new opportunities as an advocate, lawyer, and community organizer. Through Capitol Scholars, I also met a justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, which

experience, I serve as one of Governor Fallin’s primary liaisons to the members of the Oklahoma House and Senate. As both an undergraduate and graduate student, I was

led to an internship with the Court. After that, I secured OU’s

fortunate to gain experience in local, state, and federal

Cortez A.M. Ewing Fellowship in Washington, D.C., where

levels of government, which has provided me with a unique

I worked at a think tank on education policy. I learned to

prospective. Seeking out internship opportunities helped me

combine research with stakeholder collaboration to develop

diversify my experiences. During my internships, I made an

effective public policies and to improve a community by

effort to connect with as many people as possible and now

working inside of it.

these connections are colleagues and friends.

Ironically, I had to leave Oklahoma to find my place in it.

My career path was greatly influenced by my time

I used my senior honors thesis to investigate immigration

associated with the Carl Albert Center. During my time as

reform. My investigation began with a number: 65,000 – the

an undergraduate, I participated in the Carl Albert Capitol

number of U.S. high school graduates who are undocumented.

Scholars Program. This excellent program provided me with

Of that, only 7.5 percent enroll in college. What about the

extensive exposure to state government and provided a forum

other 92.5 percent? My project answered part of that question

to analyze public policy at an intellectual level. During my

and what Oklahoma can do about it.

time as a graduate student, I was a David L. Boren Graduate

Today, I work with school administrators to inform them about legal avenues for undocumented students to get work permits, driver’s licenses, and protection from deportation as

Teaching Fellow and worked with the Carl Albert Center on developing educational content and conducting research. I plan to continue serving Governor Fallin through her

they pursue a college education. Aspiring Americans invests

second term. After that, I would like to continue working

in the future of students who are passionate about bettering

on energy and environment policy. I am open to exploring

themselves and their communities. We build bridges between

opportunities at the federal or state level, including another

underutilized resources and the populations that need them

elected official’s office or a government agency.

most. In addition, we offer grants for students who cannot afford the filing fee for DACA (nearly $500), award college scholarships for students who do not qualify for other financial aid, and provide pro bono legal assistance. In the past year, we have raised over $100,000, trained more than 1,000 educators and administrators, provided 14 grants and scholarships, and served over 600 students and families in partnership with Dream Act Oklahoma. The best day of my job was when I called the students who won our inaugural spring scholarships. I deeply look forward to a career in law and public policy. I plan to carry the same spirit of civic engagement that I learned from the Carl Albert Center into my studies and career for all citizens, the state, and the country.

extensions | Summer 2015

Special Orders

LADONNA SULLIVAN: A TRIBUTE Ronald M. Peters, Jr. | Editor

The month of March,

Committee on Financial

2015 was bittersweet

and Administrative

for all of us at the

Management, serving

Carl Albert Center

as chair 1999-2000.

as we recognized

Other contributions

LaDonna Sullivan’s

to the university

retirement from

community

the University of

included

Oklahoma. For

multiple years

twenty-seven

of service on

years, LaDonna

the Employment

has been the

Benefits

chief operating

Committee,

officer of the Carl

Personnel Policies

Albert Center in her

Committee, and

capacity as assistant

Staff Senate, and

to the director. During

as president of the

her tenure she

Managerial Staff

served with three directors, five associate directors,

Association.

LaDonna Sullivan, Regents’ Professor Ron Peters and Carl Albert Center director Cindy Simon Rosenthal.

and seven

Her excellence has been recognized by

archivists. She has been a mentor to dozens of graduate Carl

others. In 1994 and again in 2010, LaDonna received from the

Albert Fellows and helped facilitate programs serving hundreds

university a Superior Performance Award for outstanding job

of OU undergraduates. LaDonna was the managing editor

performance. Last year she received the Oklahoma Political

of the Center’s journal, Extensions, as well as the managing

Science Association’s Saundra Mace Service Award.

editor of the Newsletter of the Legislative Studies Section of

These recognitions reflect the respect that LaDonna has

the American Political Science Association, which for many

won from all who have worked and interacted with her. The

years the Center was responsible. In that capacity, she became

work that she has done and the people she has served are

known to many legislative scholars around the country.

markers of her character, intelligence, and dedication. They

Nowhere was LaDonna’s contribution more important

alone, however, do not fully capture many of her essential

than in the organization of the Center’s special events. She

qualities, known best to those of us who have had the privilege

orchestrated thirteen of our biennial Rothbaum Distinguished

of working with her most closely. She is wise, thoughtful,

Lectures, as well as many other guest speaker visits,

generous, calm, sincere, and kind. As LaDonna and her

conferences, institutes, and symposia. Her attention to even the

husband, Jerry, move to the San Francisco area to be near

smallest of details ensured that our many guests enjoyed and

their children Paul and Amy, she will remain ever thus. We

valued their time here at OU.

will miss her.

LaDonna also was very active on campus. She was for many years a member of the Provost’s Advisory

extensions | Summer 2015

She has been a MENTOR TO DOZENS OF GRADUATE CARL ALBERT FELLOWS AND HELPED FACILITATE PROGRAMS SERVING HUNDREDS OF OU UNDERGRADUATES. Carl Albert Center Fellow alumni came from near and far to honor Sullivan at her March 2015 retirement party. From left: Jessica Hayden, Melody Huckaby Rowlett, Victoria Rickard, Tyler Hughes, Sullivan, Ken Cosgrove, Mary Scribner Wallace, and Carl Albert Center director Cindy Simon Rosenthal.

LaDonna is wise, THOUGHTFUL, GENEROUS, CALM, SINCERE, AND KIND. Carl Albert’s daughter, Mary Frances Albert (left), and Sara Lane, Speaker Albert’s secretary in the McAlester, Oklahoma office for 26 years, wish Sullivan the best as she looks forward to retirement in the San Francisco area.

The work she has Sullivan’s family joined the celebration, held at Beaird Lounge in the Oklahoma Memorial Union.

DONE AND THE PEOPLE SHE HAS SERVED ARE MARKERS OF HER CHARACTER, INTELLIGENCE, AND DEDICATION.

extensions | Summer 2015

For the Record

NEWS FROM THE CENTER Katherine McRae | Director of Administration

N.E.W. Leadership Class of 2015

Women’s Leadership Initiative The 2015 N.E.W. (National Education

councilor and educator Karen Gilbert

to raise funds to support the program.

and Kiowa Tribe community activist

University of Oklahoma women’s

Maya Torralba. Students heard from

basketball coach Sherri Coale served

31 presenters about various topics

as the keynote speaker, drawing on the

for Women’s) Leadership class

lessons of leadership she has learned in

converged on the Norman campus May

over 20 years of coaching. Graduate Assistant Alexandra

15-19, for the 14th year. The program’s mission is to educate, inspire and

Bohannon provided staff support to the

empower women to become leaders in

assistant director for N.E.W. Leadership

public service and elective office. The

Lauren Schueler and director Cindy

intensive, five-day institute brought

Simon Rosenthal.

together 35 undergraduate women from 20 higher education institutions to learn

Civic Engagement Fellows

from Oklahoma’s top women leaders in government, business, the nonprofit sector, and politics.

and completed a campaign simulation

Carl Albert Civic Engagement

and action project focused on school

Fellows Victoria Bautista, Madison

Tulsa attorney and former municipal

immunization policy. The institute closed

Hobson, and Jon Torres presented a

judge Sandra Alexander, Tulsa city

with the first annual EmPower Lunch

breakout session during the Center for

The 2015 Faculty-in-Residence were

extensions | Summer 2015

Social Justice’s Teach OUt on Race on

The award is administered by the

presented “Driving While Black, the

the University of Oklahoma campus.

Government Documents Roundtable

War on Drugs, and Minority-Police

Their session was titled “Race and

of the American Library Association

Relations in a Post-Ferguson World.”

Political Mobilization,” which focused

and is given for an outstanding

The lecture presented data from over

on how to get minority populations

research article in which government

18 million traffic stops in North Carolina

involved in the political process,

documents, either published or archival

and explored what the disparity

particularly through voting initiatives.

in nature, form a substantial part of the

in outcomes for black and white

documented research.

motorists. Baumgartner is a Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor

Carl Albert Graduate Fellows Carl Albert Graduate Fellow Tyler

of Political Science at the University of

Grant

North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Associate director Michael Crespin

Hughes became the Center’s newest

was selected as a Risser Innovative

graduate in May. Hughes received his

Teaching Fellow for fall 2015. As

Ph.D. after defending his dissertation

a Fellow, Crespin will serve as an

“The Politics of Partisan Issue Attention:

innovative teaching ambassador and

science faculty member Deven

Connecting Congress and Policy

help promote active and innovative

Carlson, recently published “Divided

Subsystems.” In August, Hughes will

learning. Crespin will develop a

Government and Delay in the

start as an assistant professor of

course in which students learn about

Legislative Process: Evidence from

political science at California State

different constitutions and then write a

Important Bills 1949-2010” in American

University, Northridge, where he will

constitution for the Star Wars Galactic

Politics Research.

teach courses on public policy and

Universe. The students will develop

American politics.

teamwork, critical and analytical

Simon Rosenthal had a manuscript

thinking, and writing skills as they

accepted for forthcoming publication

model a constitutional convention and

by Review of Policy Research. The

other legislative procedures.

paper, which is co-authored with James

Alumni

Research Tyler Hughes, along with political

Carl Albert Center director Cindy

A. Rosenthal, Jonathan Moore and Carl Albert Graduate Fellow alumnus Curtis Ellis, Ph.D. (2010),

Jamie Smith, is titled “Beyond (and

Guest Lecturers

has been named chair and associate professor of the Department of

Within) City Limits: Climate Policy in an Intergovernmental System.”

On February 26, the Center

Carl Albert Center associate director

History, Humanities, and Government

co-sponsored an Arts and Sciences

at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa,

Week lecture by Frances E. Lee with

Oklahoma. Ellis joins ORU after four

the Department of Political Science and

Research. “Earmarks and Subcommittee

and a half years at Auburn University

the T.W. Adams Distinguished Alumni

Government in the U.S. Congress,” was

at Montgomery, where he was named

Lecture Program.

co-authored with Austin Clemens and

AUM’s university-wide Emerging

Lee is professor of government and

Michael Crespin had a paper accepted for publication in American Politics

Charles Finocchiaro.

Distinguished Teaching Professor

politics at the University Maryland-

for 2013-14. Ellis also served as the

College Park, and an award-winning

about House members’ support for

coordinator of graduate programs

author. She presented “Insecure

leadership in procedural votes with

for AUM’s School of Sciences from

Majorities: Congress, Party Competition

Jamie L. Carson and Anthony Madonna

2012-2014.

and the Permanent Campaign,” which

on the LSE American Politics and Policy

is based upon her extensive research

Blog. The post is available at

Fellow alumnus Walter Wilson, Ph.D.

on the U.S. Congress. While on campus,

http://bit.ly/1Des3ML.

(2008) won the 2015 Margaret T.

Lee also conducted research in the Carl

Lane/Virginia F. Saunders Memorial

Albert Center Archives and met with

Research Award for “Surrogates

graduate students in the Department

Beyond Borders: Black Members of

of Political Science. As part of her visit,

the United States Congress and the

Lee also spoke to a group of Norman

Representation of African Interests

community members at one of the

presented “The Politics of Partisan

on the Congressional Foreign-Policy

Center’s Coffee Klatches, a community

Policy Agendas: Measuring and

Agenda.” Wilson is an associate

engagement effort of the Center with

Assessing Partisan Issue Attention in

professor in the Department of

the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

the U.S. House of Representatives,

Ellis and Carl Albert Graduate

Political Science and Geography at the University of Texas San Antonio.

On April 30, the Center hosted a

Crespin co-authored a blog post

Conference Presentations Graduate Fellow Tyler Hughes

1989-2012” at a conference hosted

lecture by Frank Baumgartner, who extensions | Summer 2015

by the Mannheim Centre for European

The project was featured on

Gerth has been appointed as a

“Oklahoma Forum,” a weekly public

member of the Association of Centers

affairs broadcast of the statewide

for the Study of Congress Executive

presented “The Effects of Gender

Oklahoma PBS station. The news show

Committee. Gerth, one of two archivists

on Winnowing in the U.S. House of

featured interviews with Kull, Center

at the Carl Albert Center’s Congressional

Representatives” at the Southern

director Rosenthal and OU political

Archives, coordinates the processing

Political Science Association annual

science chair Keith Gaddie.

and curation of the center’s holdings,

Social Research. Graduate Fellow Victoria Rickard

meeting in New Orleans. She also

supervises the archive’s social media

presented “International Influences on United States Domestic Policy” at the Western Political Science Association

presence and assists with classroom and

Administration and Archives

annual meeting in Las Vegas.

patron outreach. The archives staff also began processing the late Mike

Associate director Michael

Synar’s papers. At present, more

Crespin gave a talk at the University

than 2,000 records have been

of Rochester based on the paper

created, encompassing roughly an

“Procedural Signaling, Party

eighth of the collection. Work on this

Loyalty, and Traceability in the U.S.

project will continue until the collection

House of Representatives.” He also

opens, sometime after January 2016. Archivist Bailey Hoffner left the

presented “Consistently Inconsistent: Moderate Voting in the U.S. House of

Carl Albert Center in March to spend

Representatives” with Graduate Fellow

more time with her infant son and to

Jessica Hayden at the annual Midwest

pursue her passion for local foods. After

Political Science Association conference

a national search, Rachel Henson was

in Chicago.

hired as the new archivist and began Katherine McRae, JD joined the

Collaborations On April 22, the Center hosted a

her work on June 15. Henson earned her

Carl Albert Center in February as

master’s degree in library science, with a

director of administration. Before

concentration in archives, from Simmons

joining the Center, she worked for

College, Boston in May. She also holds a

the Oklahoma Department of Human

bachelor’s degree from OU.

press conference and public forum

Services for 12 years, where she handled

to announce results of the University

communications and community

of the Association of Centers for the

of Maryland’s “Voice of the People”

engagement initiatives; implemented

Study of Congress at the National

survey of its newly established

large conferences, trainings and events;

Archives in Washington, D.C. May 13 to

Oklahoma Citizen Cabinet. The survey

wrote and administered federal grant

15. He has been appointed as a member

addressed Social Security reform.

projects; led key pilot projects; and

of the ACSC Executive Committee for

Steven Kull, Director of the Program

served as a child support enforcement

the upcoming year. Gerth also attended

for Public Consultation at the University

attorney. McRae received her BA from

the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society

of Maryland, led the presentations

the University of Oklahoma and her

of Southwest Archivists in Arlington,

regarding the survey results.

JD from George Mason University

Texas from May 21 to 23, and will serve

School of Law.

on the host committee when SSA comes

The Oklahoma Citizen Cabinet is an online representative panel

In spring 2015, assistant curator and

Gerth attended the annual meeting

to Oklahoma City in 2016.

of Oklahoma registered voters,

archivist Nathan Gerth and the archives

scientifically selected and managed by

staff continued to work closely with

the University of Maryland’s Program

undergraduates from the “Congress

for Public Consultation at the School

and the Constitution” course that the

of Public Policy. The Carl Albert Center

Carl Albert Center administers with

is the Oklahoma-based sponsor of the

the University of Oklahoma Institute

students affiliated with the Carl Albert

project, which aims to engage Oklahoma

for American Constitutional Heritage.

Center recently won scholarships from

citizens in a deliberative process to

The course brought students into the

the Department of Political Science at

advise members of Congress on policy

Carl Albert Center Archives to conduct

the University of Oklahoma. Victoria

issues. More information about Voice

research on the 26th Amendment and

Bautista (Community Scholar and Civic

of the People, the Oklahoma citizen

the Voting Rights Act of 1965 using

Engagement Fellow) was inducted into

Cabinet and survey results is available

archival materials from a variety of

Pi Sigma Alpha, the political science

at vop.org.

collections.

honorary society. Alexandra Bohannon

extensions | Summer 2015

Awards Several undergraduate and graduate

(Women’s Leadership Initiative graduate research assistant) won the Joyce and Edmond Peters Scholarship. Joseph DeAngelis (Undergraduate Research

IN MEMORIAM

Fellow) won the Joseph Crim Pray Paper Award and was inducted into Pi Sigma

The Carl Albert Center lost two long-time members of its National

Alpha. Haley Morrow (Community

Advisory Board this spring.

Scholar) received a Cortez A.M. Ewing Public Service Fellowship. Daniel Pae

Former House Speaker Jim Wright passed away May 5. Wright

(Capitol Scholar) received a John Halvor

represented the area around Weatherford, Texas, in the U.S. House

Leek Memorial Scholarship. Lena Tenney

of Representatives for thirty-four years. He served as the Democrats’

(former Civic Engagement Fellow)

Majority Leader from 1977 to 1986, and as Speaker from 1987 to 1989.

also won a John Halvor Leek Memorial

While Wright will be remembered for the fact that he resigned the

Scholarship. Jon Torres (Civic Engagement

Speaker’s office in 1989 while under an ethics investigation, he also

Fellow) received the Allan Saxe Award.

should be remembered as one of the most effective Speakers in the modern history of the House of Representatives. During the 100th Congress, Wright consolidated power in the Speaker’s office and drove

Save the Date

the House to enact a raft of significant legislation. He was instrumental in negotiations to resolve the conflict in Nicaragua in the wake of the

Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture in Representative Government

Iran-Contra scandal. His forceful leadership demonstrated the potential of the speakership, and the risks that an assertive Speaker might run. It was his very success that engendered the attacks upon him.

October 20-22, 2015

Wright was always a good friend to political scientists and to the Carl Albert Center. He welcomed American Political Science Association

The 2016 Congress & History

Congressional Fellows to serve in his office. He was available for

Conference will convene at the University

academic interviews. He attended a number of Carl Albert Center

of Oklahoma in June. Visit the Carl

events in Oklahoma and Washington, D.C. In retirement, he wrote

Albert Center website for updates and

several informative books about politics that repay reading. He was a

additional details.

master storyteller, and his books offer interesting narratives. Wright was a strong leader and a good man.

Carl Albert Center on Social Media

Jess Hay, who passed away April 13, was less well-known to the public than Jim Wright, but was widely known and respected in political and philanthropic circles. A Dallas lawyer and financier, Hay

Connect with the Carl Albert Center on Facebook and Twitter for such features as “Found Friday,” which showcases the Center’s treasures, and to stay up-to-date on the Center’s research, programs and activities.

was a major fundraiser for Democrats, including service as national fundraising chairman for the Democratic National Committee, and as head fundraiser for Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Governor Dolph Briscoe, Lt. Governor Bill Hobby, and Governor Mark White. He also served as Texas finance chairman or co-chairman for President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Albert Gore, Vice President Walter Mondale, and Senator John Glenn. Hay’s philanthropic and civic contributions

facebook.com/CarlAlbertCenter

were even more extensive than his political activities, and included strong commitments to education, medicine, and the arts. He served

@CarlAlbertCtr

for twelve years on the University of Texas System Board of Regents, including two years as its chair. When the Carl Albert Center was founded in 1979, Hay, who was married to Carl Albert’s niece, Betty Jo Peacock Hay, joined our Advisory Board as a founding member and played a leading role in our early fundraising efforts, enabling the Center to establish its initial programs. The Center’s success owes much to Hay and we note his passing with appreciation for his contributions.

-Ron Peters

extensions | Summer 2015

THE CARL ALBERT GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM ~ A Commitment to the Study of Representative Government ~ Each Carl Albert Fellow pursues a rigorous and individualized program of study while working closely with faculty. The fellowship is a four-year program leading to the acquisition of the Ph.D. degree in cooperation with the Department of Political Science at The University of Oklahoma. Carl Albert Fellows focus their program of study on fundamental issues in representative government. The central focus is in the field of American government and includes institutions, processes, and public policy. In addition, Fellows pursue two additional fields of study selected from among comparative politics, international relations, methods, political theory, public administration, or public policy. The fellowship program values both instructional development and research productivity. Carl Albert Fellows are expected to develop original research leading to professional conference presentation and publication. The Center’s resources enable Fellows to pursue field research where appropriate to the dissertation research design.

Carl Albert Fellows Tyler Hughes (far left) and Victoria Rickard met with Professor Tom Patterson while he was on campus to deliver the 2013 Julian J. Rothbaum Distinguished Lecture in Representative Government. Professor Patterson is Bradlee Professor of Government and the Press, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

The fellowship package includes four years of financial support in teaching or research appointments, full tuition and fees, funded research and conference travel, summer support, participation and course work at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, and dissertation research funds. Carl Albert Fellows are introduced to nationally known political leaders and scholars through special guest lectures and seminars. Visitors have included former Ambassador James R. Jones, former U.S. Senator George McGovern, and former Congressmen Dick Armey and Mickey Edwards as well as distinguished scholars James E. Campbell, Morris Fiorina, Jennifer Hochschild, Tom Patterson, Jack Rakove, and Steven S. Smith.

Carl Albert Fellows access a rich and diverse selection of other resources at The University of Oklahoma: • Carl Albert Center Archives http://www.ou.edu/special/albertctr/archives • Public Opinion Learning Laboratory (P.O.L.L.) http://www.ou.edu/oupoll • Political Commercial Archives http://www.ou.edu/pccenter • Center for Applied Social Research http://casr.ou.edu

CARL ALBERT GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP Application Deadline: February 1 of each year. Apply Online http://www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter/student/grad-fellow.html. extensions | Summer 2015

The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center 630 Parrington Oval, Room 101 Norman, Oklahoma 73019-4031 (405) 325-6372 http://www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter

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Visiting Scholars Program The Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center at the University of Oklahoma seeks applicants for its Visiting Scholars Program, which provides financial assistance to researchers working at the Center’s archives. Awards of $500-$1000 are normally granted as reimbursement for travel and lodging. The Center’s holdings include the papers of many former members of Congress, such as Speaker Carl Albert, Robert S. Kerr, and Fred Harris of Oklahoma, Helen Gahagan Douglas and Jeffery Cohelan of California, and Neil Gallagher of New Jersey. Besides the history of Congress, congressional leadership, national and Oklahoma politics, and election campaigns, the collections also document government policy affecting agriculture, Native Americans, energy, foreign affairs, the environment, and the economy. Topics that can be studied include the Great Depression, flood control, soil conservation, and tribal affairs. At least one collection provides insight on women in American politics. Most materials date from the 1920s to the 1990s, although there is one nineteenth-century collection. The Center’s collections are described on the World Wide Web at http://www.ou.edu/carlalbertcenter and in the publication titled A Guide to the Carl Albert Center Congressional Archives (Norman, Okla.: The Carl Albert Center, 1995) by Judy Day, et al., available at many U. S. academic libraries. Additional information can be obtained from the Center. The Visiting Scholars Program is open to any applicant. Emphasis is given to those pursuing postdoctoral research in history, political science, and other fields. Graduate students involved in research for publication, thesis, or dissertation are encouraged to apply. Professional writers and researchers are also invited to apply. The Center evaluates each research proposal based upon its merits, and funding for a variety of topics is expected. No standardized form is needed for application. Instead, a series of documents should be sent to the Center, including: (1) a description of the research proposal in fewer than 1000 words; (2) a personal vita; (3) an explanation of how the Center’s resources will assist the researcher; (4) a budget proposal; and (5) a letter of reference from an established scholar in the discipline attesting to the significance of the research. Applications are accepted at any time. For more information, please contact: Archivist, Carl Albert Center, 630 Parrington Oval, Room 101, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019. Telephone: (405) 325-5835. FAX: (405) 325-6419. E-mail: cacarchives@ou.edu

The University of Oklahoma is an Equal Opportunity Institution. www.ou.edu

extensions | Summer 2015

Extensions is a copyrighted publication of the Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center. It is distributed free of charge twice a year. All Rights Reserved. Extensions and the Carl Albert Center symbol are trademarks of the Carl Albert Center. Copyright Carl Albert Center, The University of Oklahoma, 1985. Statements contained herein do not necessarily reflect the views of the Carl Albert Center or the regents of The University of Oklahoma.