Do you like March Madness? Do you like presidents? Then you should vote in the IOP’s “Presidential March Madness: Funniest Slam Dunks from the Commander-in-Chief.” We’ve picked sixteen of the funniest one-liners from the forty-four presidents and sorted them into four regions: On Being President, On Dogs, Founding Fathers, and Facial Hair. The final four voting will then close on April 6th with the top two vote-getters advancing to the championship. Finally, championship voting will close on April 9th and the completed bracket will be posted for all to see, post, Tweet, criticize, and debate. Follow us on Twitter (@HarvardIOP) and Facebook so you don’t miss your chance to vote in the three rounds!

Authored by Internships and Career Services Committee member Caroline Hunsicker '17 On March 9th, Torie Clark, Senior Vice President for Corporate Affairs at SAP spoke at a Career Roundtable event called Surviving and Thriving in DC. Clarke is an IOP Senior Advisory Committee member and a former Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. She gave a unique perspective on the relationship between the private and public sectors, and spoke to the benefits of working in both. 

Do you like March Madness? Do you like presidents? Then you should vote in the IOP’s “Presidential March Madness: Funniest Slam Dunks from the Commander-in-Chief.” We’ve picked sixteen of the funniest one-liners from the forty-four presidents and sorted them into four regions: On Being President, On Dogs, Founding Fathers, and Facial Hair. The final four voting will then close on April 6th with the top two vote-getters advancing to the championship. Finally, championship voting will close on April 9th and the completed bracket will be posted for all to see, post, Tweet, criticize, and debate. Follow us on Twitter (@HarvardIOP) and Facebook so you don’t miss your chance to vote in the three rounds!

Do you like March Madness? Do you like presidents? Then you should vote in the IOP’s “Presidential March Madness: Funniest Slam Dunks from the Commander-in-Chief.” We’ve picked sixteen of the funniest one-liners from the forty-four presidents and sorted them into four regions: On Being President, On Dogs, Founding Fathers, and Facial Hair. First round voting will close on March 31st and the winners from each region will advance to the Final Four. Final four voting will then close on April 4th with the top two vote-getters advancing to the championship. Finally, championship voting will close on April 7th and the completed bracket will be posted for all to see, post, Tweet, criticize, and debate. Follow us on Twitter (@HarvardIOP) and Facebook so you don’t miss your chance to vote in the three rounds!

Just as I was planning my study group this Spring to encourage students to think about ways to make change, a young woman walks into my office. She is on a mission, because she believes that the Massachusetts law regarding forensic evidence in assault cases is outdated and unfair to her and others. 

Authored by HPOP Chair Ellen Robo. As a member of Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP), I have poured over thousands of poll question crosstabs.  I have learned a lot about my generation. We view community service (70%) as a lot more honorable than running for office (31%) and as a result we are much more likely to be involved in community service (31%) than in political or government groups (7%).   We care less about marijuana legalization (44% support) than student debt (57% major problem) or income inequality (52% major problem). 

Authored By Marcus Dennis '18.

If you want to hear a true “rags to riches” story than look no further than the Honorable Tarja Halonen. However, “riches” were never her goal nor was it what she would ultimately accomplish; instead, from the impoverished conditions of post-World War II Finland, Halonen would become the future President of Finland.  The former President would begin her visit to the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Institute of Politics by offering a brief background of where she is from. She stated that “being poor was not unusual during her youth” and that she came from a “working-class family” and community, and therefore, could not even recognize that she was relatively “poor” because that was all she was surrounded by. When prompted on what she believes the key was to her escaping these conditions, she quickly responded that it was the fact that her parents were willing to “invest in her education.”

Elise Stefanik served on the Institute’s Student Advisory Committee as Vice President and graduated from Harvard University in 2006. On January 3, 2015 she became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. Elise took the time to discuss why she thinks more young women don’t run for office, narrowing the gap on gender equality and what the future of the GOP and American politics in general may hold.

Christine C. Quinn, an accomplished leader with more than 20 years of experience in public service, is widely recognized as one of the most effective elected officials in New York history. Chris has received extensive praise for her unmatched leadership and management skills from leading editorial boards, civic organizations and good government groups alike, and has spent her career in public service developing and implementing policies and services that are critical to the lives of New Yorkers.

Authored By Niyat Mulugheta '18
Simply put, the current state of gridlock in American politics is an unfortunate one. The extreme partisan nature of our government is debilitating our legislative system and in turn, creating a sense of disillusionment and distrust among the American electorate. In the Fall 2014 Harvard Political Opinion Project poll of millennials, 60 percent of respondents disapproved of Democrats in Congress and 72 percent disapproved of Republicans in Congress, illustrating the manifestation of these negative sentiments amongst the youngest of voters.  

Marvin Kalb’s low, booming broadcast journalism voice rang throughout the JFK Jr. Forum Tuesday night, leaving listeners enraptured by incredibly relevant views on modern news. The 2015 Goldstein Career Award for Excellence in Journalism Winner used his acceptance speech to deliver his thoughts on the rapidly evolving landscape of journalism in the technological 21st century. “What’s new here,” remarked Kalb, “is the speed – and the effect of that speed.”

​Authored by Jay Newton-Small, IOP 2015 Spring Fellow and Washington correspondent, TIME. Depending on who you ask, it will take women anywhere from 25 years to a century to reach parity in Congress. And, sadly, Congress is ahead of the private sector where female representation on corporate boards has stalled at 17% for the past decade.