Students
Student legislative interns work on the state’s important issues
Presidential program fosters connection between Rutgers and state government
A few years ago, a series of informal meetings between members of the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly and the leadership of Rutgers University revealed a mutual desire: more student involvement in the day-to-day operations of state politics and government.
The benefit would be felt all around. Rutgers students interested in public affairs and politics would gain valuable experience researching legislation and dealing with constituents. Legislators would receive much needed help in their sparsely staffed offices. And the students would act as ambassadors for Rutgers, an institution with which some legislators in remote areas of the state are not intimately familiar.
> Apply to the New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow Presidential Internship Program [PDF]
In the fall of 2007, the New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow Presidential Internship Program placed nearly 20 students in various legislators’ offices. The students received three credits for working eight to 10 hours a week with lawmakers, attending a class every other week, and working on a semester-long project on a problem facing the State of New Jersey.
“I am getting screams from the rest of the legislators saying, ‘We want one [an intern] too!’” said William Field, an instructor in the political science department at the School of Arts and Sciences and faculty adviser of the internship program. “At district offices in New Jersey and across the country, the amount of assistance is minimal. It’s exhausting. [Legislators] really are relying on their office staff to build their arguments.”
Rutgers' Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnership (CESEP) oversees the program, and its directors are discussing expanding it to students in Newark and Camden.
“It’s hard to have a New Brunswick-based student do an internship with, for example, Sen. Steve Sweeney [who represents parts of Cumberland, Gloucester, and Salem counties],” said Sharon Ainsworth, Rutgers’ assistant vice president of state relations. “The students would have to travel a good distance, which makes it tough.”
It is important that those legislators be able to work with Rutgers students, Ainsworth said. "Some legislators have very few alumni in his district, so they don’t have the same kind of connection to Rutgers as other representatives do,” she said.
Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula has an office on Easton Avenue in Somerset, just a few minutes from the New Brunswick Campus. Rutgers College senior Ryan Lemanski is now a part-time, paid employee in his office after a successful semester as a legislative intern.
“My roommate always said [that] state government affects your life much more than federal government ever will,” Lemanski said. “Working here, you can tell how important it is.”
Lemanski has helped coordinate a backpack drive for economically disadvantaged kids in the Franklin school district, assisted constituents wading through bureaucracy, and researched important energy issues, one of Chivukula’s top legislative priorities.
Lemanski said that he has a better understanding of how listening to constituents helps Chivukula author legislation. “By hearing these problems, he can start to get the feel for what needs to be accomplished,” Lemanski said. “It’s very rewarding to try to help people, but it’s tough.”
Field, the faculty adviser, echoed that opinion. “It takes a certain kind of skin to be able to deal with public life, and not everybody has a thick enough skin,” Field said. “This scene [that] the students are exposed to teaches them a lot about themselves.”
Chivukula said that working with students helps legislators understand Rutgers from a different perspective. “When students like Ryan come work for a legislator, they influence their thinking,” he said. “I am a strong supporter of Rutgers but this can help people that are not that close. They will understand what type of education the students are getting and why it is beneficial.”
The New Jersey Leaders of Tomorrow Presidential Internship Program is accepting applications now for the spring semester. The application is available online [PDF], and students with questions or faculty or staff who can recommend students should call CESEP senior program coordinator Amy Michael at 732-932-8660 or amymic@rci.rutgers.edu.