Three years ago, students at Yale University and Stanford University were concerned about U.S. policies, including the war in Iraq and the state of the economy - and they decided to do something about it.
They created the Roosevelt Institution, the first national nonpartisan network of student think tanks, said Weinberg sophomore Matthew Fischler. Since then, the progressive organization has grown to more than 7,000 members in 70 chapters across the country.
Along with Fischler, NU students Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Stephanie Gross recently co-founded the Institution's newest chapter at NU.
The chapter's launch event was a conference on "Health Care Policy in the 21st Century," held Saturday in Norris University Center. About 30 students from more than five different chapters attended the conference, which was co-sponsored by the Institute for Policy Research, said Gross, a Weinberg junior.
The conference focused on the "economics of health care reform - how to make it lower cost while increasing quality, and how to make it available to more people," Fischler said.
The conference also allowed undergraduates to collaborate with graduate students in writing original health care policy proposals.
Lesley Kadiry, a recent Loyola University graduate, said she attended the conference because she is interested in health care reform as a career.
"I got a really big impression that students are making a difference," she said.
The Roosevelt Institution provides tools for students to conduct research and come up with original policy proposals, said Rob Nelb, the institution's national policy coordinator.
"Students have great ideas, but they need to be able to connect their ideas to policy," he said. "We provide the connections and share the ideas with policymakers."
Although NU is home to many volunteering and advocacy organizations, "there is a difference between seeing a need for change and actually enacting change," said Hertel-Fernandez, a Weinberg senior. "The Roosevelt Institution fills that void."
The goal of the NU chapter is to focus on local and state issues where students can make the greatest impact, he said.
"The D.C. chapter often works on policy at the national level, but there is a dearth of policy proposals at the local and state levels," Hertel-Fernandez said.
Roosevelt Institution members conduct policy research on a wide range of issues, from national security and international affairs to health care policy, affordable housing and unemployment.
Nationally, the organization has had many successes, Fischler said.
Nelb, a recent Yale graduate, led a successful effort to create legislation for children to be automatically enrolled into the State Children's Health Insurance Program, he said.
The Yale chapter also successfully implemented living wage legislation, Hertel-Fernandez said.
The NU chapter plans to start several policy centers, or major themes and issues that students want to organize around, Gross said.
Students can then get more involved by choosing a policy center that fits their interests and submitting proposals that fit the theme.
Roosevelt Institution also has three national publications to which students can contribute, Fischler said. The publications are then distributed to legislators.
Ultimately, the organization aims to "focus on simple ideas to make effective changes," he said.
"People are paying attention to our efforts," Fischler said. "Students really do have a voice."
a-kolisetty@northwestern.edu
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