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A one-of-a-kind government course with two universities sharing teaching duties from a classroom with a view of the Capitol is returning for the fall 2024 semester. It takes on significant resonance in the run-up to the November presidential election.
How Washington Really Works, aka GOVT 467, promises to unravel the complexities of political maneuvering and policymaking by bringing high-profile practitioners into the classroom for frank conversations with students from George Mason University and the University of Pennsylvania. Students also experience behind-the-scenes tours of government landmarks.
The course is once again taught by George Mason Robinson Professor of Public Policy Steven Pearlstein, who won a Pulitzer Prize as an economics columnist for the Washington Post, and Zeke Emmanuel, Penn’s vice president for global initiatives former healthcare advisor to President Obama. All that and lunch with each session.
The course is open to Schar School of Policy and Government junior and senior government majors and public policy graduate students and will meet Fridays beginning in late August at Penn’s Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement on Capitol Hill.
The new semester will look at six case studies in an exploration of modern American policy debates, politics, and institutional dynamics, with a particular focus on the personalities, motivations, and ambitions of elected leaders. The role of interest groups, think tanks, and media will also be examined.
Field trips this year include visits to the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the National Air and Space Museum. Class topics include the Cuba Missile Crisis, the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, Clinton-era welfare reform, poverty in America, tech regulation, China policy, the passage of Obamacare, and other landmark issues.
The course “introduced me to the research and discussion side of policy-making that I really hadn’t seen yet at the time of me taking this class,” said Joe Szymanski, who graduated with a bachelor of science degree in public administration last year from the Schar School. He is now a communications coordinator for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Of all the tasks students were asked, “putting together a policy proposal was a genuine challenge, and one that I had no regrets taking on,” he said.
Last year’s guest speakers, he said, were “from a wide variety, including government bureaucrats and insiders to officials of other nations. Everyone that was brought in provided an interesting story or a topic to discuss.”
Those speakers included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer, ambassador from Jordan Dina Kawar, historian Michael Beschloss, and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CONN).
Szymanski said he would recommend the course to those serious about how Washington works.
“One of the things that’s helped me a ton throughout my college years and my recent professional career has been saying yes to any and all opportunities given to me,” he said. “This is an opportunity for you. Say yes to it.”