I recently finished my tenure as a co-chair of the Politics of Race and Ethnicity (PRE) program in the Institute of Politics (IOP) and it has made me feel quite sentimental.
If you are not familiar, the IOP is a program offered to students to engage with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, one of Harvard’s graduate schools, as an undergraduate and have early exposure to public service. It was originally established in 1966 as a memorial to President Kennedy. The IOP’s main goals are to inspire and engage undergraduates with academics, politicians, activists, and policymakers on a nonpartisan basis. The IOP as an institution hopes to inspire students to consider careers in public service or politics.
#BossWoman in the Student Advisory Committee
At our annual leadership retreat
As an individual, I have had both my positive and negative experiences being a part of the IOP; however, it is a program that I highly encourage all students to become involved with one way or another. Through my last three years, I have been able to meet amazing high-profile politicians and hardworking activists, learn more about policymaking, the results of youth polls, the way that identity markers affect us when navigating politics, and most importantly cultivate my passion for public service.
I have listed the sixteen amazing programs we have available for students, and I hope that they excite those who are interested or curious about politics to join!
The CAP program is an amazing opportunity if you are someone that is interested in participating in campaigns. Some specific programming, they offer are advocacy development workshops and learning practical skills like opposition research, interpreting polling data, and coalition building. This program does have both a student chair and a professional facilitator to lead their weekly members.
Other important goals that CAP has are holding interactive discussions with accomplished speakers and building strong facilitator-member relationships during meetings or social events. I personally have never participated in CAP; however, many of my IOP peers have really enjoyed their experience and believe they have left with a better understanding of the way campaigns work.
Another amazing program the IOP has is Citizenship Tutoring or what students call “CitTut.” The CitTut program has recently expanded and grown more popular, even helping MIT establish their own version. The goal of CitTut is to pair students with a Harvard employee and help tutor them to pass their citizenship test. Unlike some other programs, you will need to receive training, offered by The Bridge Program, an employee education program at Harvard, before being paired. Instead of typical meetings like other programs, students are expected to meet with their matched employees once a week for one hour.
Recently, CitTut has expanded its programming to even include guest speakers and discussions with distinguished guests about the broader implications and impacts of immigration issues. This program is one of the few IOP programs that is pro-active in serving the Harvard community and just a great community to be a part of. If possible, I hope to participate in my senior year!
Another very proactive program in the IOP is the CIVICS program. This program is unique because it is a joint between the IOP and the Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA), an organization on campus dedicated to service. The CIVICS program takes place in 5th-grade classrooms with the goal of empowering the next generation of engaged, informed, and active citizens. In the past year, the CIVICS program has seen tremendous development by expanding and is currently 30 classrooms in the Cambridge and Boston Public School systems.
For those who are interested in working with children and have a passion for spreading civic engagement. I am hoping to participate in this program sometime in the future or find an equivalent PBHA program. Check out their Insta: @harvardcivics
Another informative program is Community Action Committee (CAC). CAC focuses on helping students nurture their interests in political engagement and work to bridge political divisions within the Harvard community. CAC has built a unique Political Action Network (PAN) that currently consists of over 25 undergraduate student clubs from across the political spectrum, including the Harvard Republicans, Harvard Democrats, and Philips Brooks House Association (PBHA). Similarly, they engage the Harvard community to engage civically, and you can find them at events like Day of Civic Action. They also work with other IOP programs like Harvard Votes Challenge (which I will describe more below) in increasing voter turnout. From my peers, I am told it is a more workshop and guest speaker-based program!
One of the more competitive programs is the Fellow and Study Groups (FSG) program. This program has drawn much attention to the IOP by various individuals on campus. Every semester FSG brings six or more prominent figures of the political world to campus each semester as IOP Resident Fellows. Each Resident Fellow hosts eight not-for-credit study groups throughout the semester in their areas of expertise, the formats of which range from traditional Q&A based discussion groups to skill-building workshops, often featuring guests.
What is very special about this program is that they offer students the rare opportunity to apply to be liaisons for the Fellows, helping to integrate the Fellows into the Harvard community, producing the weekly study groups, arranging additional Fellow events, and building relationships that often last for years into the future. The FSG program is worth getting involved with or attending at least once during your time here.
Although I haven’t attended any formal events, one of my favorite moments was running into Nikole Hannah-Jones in front of the Kennedy school and knowing that George Bush joined a Zoom call.
Running into Nikole Hannah-Jones!!
On my way to PRE meeting and ran into the legendary Nikole Hannah-Jones
The Harvard Political Review (HPR) is a student run journal for politics, policy, and culture. This is a student led production that was founded by undergraduates in 1969, including former Vice President Al Gore. The HPR offers student perspectives on political and cultural topics at international, domestic, and local levels in the form of essays, podcasts, and data-driven storytelling. I even got to write an article about K-Pop and my program recently collaborated with them to create a podcast called PRE-views.
Another really great opportunity is that they get to interview high-profile guests like Alan Dershowitz, Yo-Yo Ma, and Malala Yousafzai. This program is different than other IOP programs because rather than being application based, it is completion based. The quality and depth provided by a student production is truly impressive. Their Instagram is @harvardpolitics
The Harvard Political Union (HPU) is the center for political discourse on campus. It is the oldest collegiate debate society in the nation, the HPU brings together students from diverse viewpoints and backgrounds in order to facilitate dynamic discussions on all things politics. They have their weekly debates on topics ranging from politics, international relations, and even the Harvard experience.
One of my favorite things I know about HPU is that they host Pizza and Politics. I would recommend HPU if you are looking for a more relaxed program that chats about politics.
The Harvard Public Opinion Project (HPOP) is a program that I didn’t really interact with until recently. I went to their end-of-the-year poll recap and had such a great time! HPOP can provide such important and interesting information on the opinion of youth across the nation. Its the nation’s largest poll on the political opinions and civic attitudes of young Americans aged 18 to 29. It is open to students of all backgrounds who want to engage in the polling process under the guidance of IOP Polling Director John Della Volpe.
HPOP End of the Year Poll Results Event
Event: At the end of each semester the HPOP program hosts a forum to go over the results
On campus almost everyone has heard about Harvard Votes Challenge (HVC). If you are a voting-eligible US citizen they will email, call, text, page, and knock on your door to make sure you are registered to vote. This is all part of their aims to increase voter registration, engagement, and turnout at Harvard University and beyond.
HVC’s ultimate mission is to reach 100% voter registration and participation among eligible students by lowering barriers to voting, offering resources and assistance, and advocating for nonpartisan voting reform. The HVC is such an energizing and optimistic group of individuals that are passionate about civic engagement.
Although I haven’t formally joined or been to a meeting, I was able to help by spreading voter registration information on my upper-level student Housing list. So, if you aren’t too interested in the time commitment but care about the mission there are alternative ways to get involved. Follow their Instagram: @harvardvotes
To be honest, I don’t know much about Internships & Careers (ICs) as a program. They are formally described as a “committee [that] offers comprehensive and exciting internship opportunities during the summer and exploratory events during the academic year in politics and public service. ICS committee members meet on a biweekly basis and run programming geared toward professional skill development and exploration.” However, unofficially they are such an important resource to undergraduates interested in public service. They offer two great opportunities for students, their director internship program and their summer stipend program.
The Director’s Internship is an opportunity for students to be partnered with high-profile organizations and elected officials around the world to experience a career-oriented summer internship. These internships are fully funded as well, which is like the Summer Stipend program which provides funding for summer internships that students find outside of the IOP.
I have personally taken advantage of ICs funding by applying to several internships for organizations like Amnesty and NAACP. This past summer, I was able to receive funding for my fellowship internship program too!
If you are involved with the IOP you’ve heard of the JFK Forum. This program offers a special platform for the Harvard community to engage with amazing guest speakers from around the world. Past speakers include heads of state; leaders in politics, business, arts, and the media; academics; and activists.
Students join to become members of the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum Committee; they are responsible for assisting the Forum staff with the logistics and production of these events. Some tasks that I have seen friends participate in are ushering, community outreach, reaching out to potential guests, and drafting briefings. This is a great opportunity to meet some high-profile guests that you can see listed here. This program is more competitive, but don’t worry too much about it because you can still attend the forums!
JFK Fellow welcoming our Fall Fellows
Mark Gearan, the Director of IOP, hosting panel with our 2021 Fall fellows including Trymaine Lee, Honorable Sara Gideon, Ashley Allison, Congressman William "Mac" Thornberry, Holly Kuzmich, and Arnon Mishkin. (Left to Right)
I don’t quite know much about this program, which is why you should read the description linked above. However, I have heard that during the non-COVID year it was a large student-led conference for the various IOPs that existed across the nation! Hopefully by the time you enroll it can be back to normalcy.
Words cannot express my love for the policy program; besides PRE this is one of my favorite programs in the IOP and the one I was most heavily involved with. The Policy Program is dedicated to creating opportunities for students to lead research and develop actionable solutions to issues facing the Commonwealth and nation.
Every semester, the program receives individualized commissions from state and federal Senators, Representatives, NGOs, and private sector companies in various distinct areas. Although the topics vary from the different commissioners available, they typically have a cover of the topics of Criminal Justice, Economics, Education, Environment, and Health. They have also had pilot programs that offer credit to program teams to collaborate with the Harvard College Government Department.
When I co-chaired the Education team in the Spring of 2020 it was the first time, we had tried it out. I love this program because it provides tangible results and most often the research you do is used by those you work with. Click here for an example of the policy paper, I helped write first year about reducing recidivism. There is Instagram is @ioppolicy
The program I put tear, sweat, and a lot of love into is the Politics of Race and Ethnicity (PRE). I thoroughly enjoyed my experience leading the PRE community along with my wonderful co-chair Janna. PRE is primarily a discussion-based group focused on questioning and analyzing the role of identity, especially race and ethnicity, in the political sphere. We were originally created in 2014 focused on the intersection of race, ethnicity, and politics by inviting guests' speakers, hosting workshops, and facilitating student-led dialogue on topics including but not limited to minority political engagement, representation, moral versus career aspirations, immigration reform, health policy, criminal justice, and community action.
I have just learned so much through PRE about the world, socio-economic issues in our communities, and about myself. This past year we were able to break some first by bringing our first international guest and our first drag queen guest! Some of my closest friends have stemmed from PRE because the community is so wonderful. One of my favorite PRE members was during the first year when our guest speaker made a contested comment and some of us spent an extra hour debating with them.
Similarly, this year for our last guest speaker we did an art workshop that was so wonderful. PRE is a program worth checking out if you care about social issues and their relation to politics and it continues to grow every year! Follow us @iop.pre
Hosting former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
One of my favorite events of this semester was our discussion with former Governor Patrick that we were happy to host it with the Black Men's Forum (BMF) and Generational African American Students Association (GAASA)
I have never been a part of STEAM, but I have only heard great things! STEAM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. This program explores the interdisciplinary study of politics during a time of rapid technological change. Students in the program work in small “commission” groups with Harvard faculty to conduct research on politically relevant STEAM topics over the course of the semester such as COVID-19, politics of international trade, and cryptocurrency.
Each commission culminates in a tangible deliverable, a product or policy solution, and the commissions allow students to build close mentor relationships with Harvard faculty working on the cutting edge of research. The program also hosts guest speakers and collaboration opportunities.
A fond memory I share with STEAM is our joint PRE x STEAM event for Earth Day where we hosted an online seminar with music and fun presentations!
A joke we would make for the Women’s Initiative in Leadership (WIL) is that “If there is a WIL, there is a way.” This group is embodying female empowerment with its aim to connect students in the Harvard community to inspiring women in various fields and points of their careers. WIL equips Harvard students of all gender identities with the necessary tools to become future leaders in politics and a variety of industries. These women speakers will serve as panelists and WIL members can learn from and network with these industry leaders.
The program also features three workshops throughout the semester in which WIL members can gain the necessary skills for the workplace and everyday life. These workshops include topics ranging from salary negotiation to personal branding. It is a program that I recommend to my ladies out there, especially if you want to learn hard and soft skills!
16 Programs Later. . .
So, there is a short and personalized summary of every IOP program currently available. As I mentioned earlier, as much as I love the IOP, it has its pros and cons, like with most institutions. However, overall, it is one of my favorite extracurriculars at Harvard that I will continue to be involved with all four years!
Although politics can be intimidating and appear divisive in today’s environment, as you have seen above the IOP offers so many unique opportunities for students at Harvard. Outside of its established programs, they have so many cool opportunities that connect you. As a general member and student leader, I have met some wonderful people who have provided me with a platform to raise my voice. Recently the former student President and a staff member of the IOP reached out to me to meet the first Tibetan and Indian mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio, which was meaningful to me because I am also Tibetan.
Me and Tenzin with Mayor Elect Aftab Pureval of Cincinnati
Getting to meet the first Tibetan and Indian mayor of Cincinnati, Ohio during the New Mayors Conference hosted in the IOP
This experience meant so much to me because it first symbolized the attention that these IOP members gave to me and my interests. Secondly, this opportunity served as a beacon of inspiration to meet someone with a similar background involved in public service! I hope that you check it out when you come to visit as a prospective or future student!
