In print | Published April 16, 2009

When local Congressman Joe Sestak visited Swarthmore on Tuesday to discuss environmental policy, he touched upon a question critical to every activist group on campus: how to get the attention of a Congressperson. Giving specific examples from his career in Congress of the most effective methods constituents have used to influence policy, Sestak said that it was careful, detailed and specific policy proposals that compelled him to consider proposing new legislation and helped him make up his mind on issues about which he was otherwise uncertain. He told the audience that it was the people who demonstrated a real interest in and knowledge about an issue — those who visited his office, interned with him, or worked with his campaign online — who were most likely to alert him to new and better ideas.

None of this will come as a shock to anyone. But the general idea — that people who can construct detailed and specific proposals can introduce them to the local congressman and get results — should have particular relevance to Swarthmore students. How can Swarthmore students most efficiently use their resources to bring about change? We are a small campus, and our numbers our limited. Sestak’s comments bring into question how much weight letters to politicians, even those sent with half the school as signatories, have. This is not to dissuade anyone from engaging in traditional letter-writing campaigns or from phoning their Congressman’s office. Simply, we believe that tapping into the resources the college offers and generating concrete policy recommendations to send to representatives of government is the most effective way Swarthmore activists can influence the legislative process.

Swarthmore students have access to unique facilities and can easily collaborate with faculty. While Swarthmore classes are rarely taught with the express purpose of having students suggest policy, many classes have loaded us with practical knowledge about a variety of pressing local and regional issues. If groups on campus want to make full use of Swarthmore’s activist potential, they should focus on drawing up specific policy proposals for our legislators.

Furthermore, many students hold radical positions and may express points of view that are only rarely heard by politicians. By coming up with actual policy recommendations, students can suggest, and support, proposals that are rarely heard by elected officials.

Students can be especially effective when drawing up solutions to, and campaigning for, local issues. There is precedent for this. A few years back, Swarthmore students and faculty wrote a lengthy report about environmental degradation in Chester, and the significant harm it was causing the local community. Sestak cited the report on Tuesday, and said that it had a lasting influence on his environmental policy.

This type of report, which students and faculty devoted months to, is not easy to replicate. But there is no question that student activists, and also students who have not traditionally been involved in activism, are capable of authoring other types of reports, in close coordination with faculty members. Students are capable of writing up concrete policy recommendations. There is no limit to how effective a specific proposal, that outlines a local issue and sets out an effective way to solve it, might be in any of our local legislators offices.

There are hosts of local issues that have yet to be effectively addressed by the local government. Environmental injustice in Chester is one of them. The outdated method of paying for transport on SEPTA is another. Undoubtedly there Swarthmore students who could use their knowledge to try and investigate solutions to these problems. The resources and knowledge at our disposal are nonpareil. We can harness both of these to focus on specific proposals that benefit the local community.

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