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Transforming Access to Justice: Students Tackle Language Barriers at Fairfax Courthouse

Andrew J Schappert — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:17:21 +0000

Transforming Access to Justice: Students Tackle Language Barriers at Fairfax Courthouse Andrew J Schappert Tue, 10/22/2024 - 11:17

From left, Schar School Jurisprudence Learning Community students Mohammed Ibrahim Al Zubaidi and Sharanya Maddukuri, a government and international politics major and Honors College student, flank General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith in her courtroom. Photo provided

Going to a court of law as plaintiff, defendant, witness, juror, or a spectator in the gallery can be stressful and confusing if you don’t know where to go. What floor is the right office on? Which clerk at which window do you need to visit? Which courtroom do you need to be in and when do you need to be there? And which way to the bathroom?

Mohammed Al Zubaidi presents the Court Signage Survey Project to an attorney who advocates at the Fairfax General District Court. Photo provided

The Fairfax General District Court conducts its business at the Fairfax County Courthouse, not far from ��AV’s Fairfax Campus near the City of Fairfax. It shares the facility with the Fairfax Circuit Court, the largest trial court in Virginia. Understandably, the hallways of the campus can be confounding even to those who frequent the complex, much less those who have business there only occasionally.

Now imagine you need to visit the General District Court but do not speak English as your native language. All the signage is in English. You can see there might be a problem.

Members of a team of 15 volunteer students from the Jurisprudence Learning Community (JPLC), one of five learning communities in the Schar School of Policy and Government, are spending time in the hallways and offices of the busy court complex conducting a survey project aimed at helping the court understand the accessibility needs of court users.

The students visit the courthouse in shifts each weekday for a month to administer surveys to those who use the court, including judges, attorneys, deputies, bailiffs, and visitors. When the survey period is over, the students will compile the results to gain an understanding of the steps the court should take to increase accessibility for individuals, particularly language and translation accessibility.

“The results of the Court Signage Survey Project will be sent to the District Court for review and ultimately compiled into a larger report that will go to the Virginia Supreme Court,” said Assistant Professor Shea Holman, director of the JPLC.

From left, Sathvika Kolluru, Sharanya Maddukuri, and Abigail Harmon wield survey clipboards in the courthouse hallway. Photo provided

General District Court Judge Dipti Pidikiti-Smith reached out to Holman for the project.

“She specifically wanted to connect with George Mason students,” Holman said. “We are such a diverse campus and the JPLC is a place where students from many different backgrounds have the opportunity to experience the legal field firsthand. This is an amazing experience for students to interact directly with individuals attempting to navigate our legal system and to spend time in a courthouse setting.”

For Schar School junior Mohammad Ibrahim Al Zubaidi, that’s exactly what has happened.

“The most memorable experience has been engaging with court users directly,” the government and international politics major said. “Listening to their stories about the communication barriers they face in such a crucial setting has been eye-opening. It reinforced the importance of the work we’re doing and the impact this project can have on improving access to justice for everyone.”

Al Zubaidi’s degree program includes a concentration in American Institutions and Processes and a minor in criminology, law, and society. His visits to the courthouse, he said, will help him gain hands-on experience in legal processes, particularly in improving access to justice for underrepresented communities.

“This project allows me to connect my academic knowledge of government and law with real-world applications," Al Zubaidi said. "Balancing classwork and off-campus duties has been a challenge, but it's also helped me develop strong time management and organizational skills. By staying organized and setting clear priorities, I’ve been able to manage both effectively."

Walking the hallways of the bustling courthouse is a new experience for some of the students.

“I haven't spent much time in [a courthouse] up until this point, so it has been interesting to see the innerworkings,” said Abigail Harmon, an integrative studies major with a legal concentration. “I also feel that making the courtroom more accessible to all kinds of people is a really important cause, and I am proud to be helping out with that. I hope that the information collected in the surveys can help with this.”

Among all the court users she’s met, it’s the interpreters who work there that have made a significant impression.

“They are passionate about helping people who don't speak English navigate and understand our legal system,” the Twin Falls, Idaho, native said. “One of the interpreters stressed how important it is to have interpreters, because if you don't speak English and don't utilize one, you might be unable to get the justice you deserve.

“I feel that this was relevant in our survey, because non-English speaking individuals might find it difficult to get around the courtroom, and the courthouse should find ways to fix that. I've had the opportunity to see a couple of the interpreters in action, and without them their clients may have had a different outcome and experience in their case.”

“This project allows me to submerse myself in the exact environment I am striving to be in postgraduation,” said government and international politics senior April Cornelius from Aliso Viejo, California. “The best experience I have had thus far has been surveying people on the third floor, which is the domestic cases. I had a mom with her two daughters fill out a survey, and was nice to connect with her older teenage daughter.

“Nobody likes to be bothered with a survey,” she added, “but it is nice to take someone’s brain off the reason why they are there—most times not for a good reason.”

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Shea M. Holman Kilian

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ODKM Looks Toward 30th Anniversary, Adds New Faculty Member

Andrew J Schappert — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 14:47:15 +0000

ODKM Looks Toward 30th Anniversary, Adds New Faculty Member Andrew J Schappert Fri, 09/27/2024 - 10:47

The Schar School of Policy and Government’s Organization Development and Knowledge Management (ODKM) master’s program is preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary next year, when it welcomes its 30th cohort to the program. To mark the milestone, the program is launching an ambitious #30in30 campaign, aiming to recruit 30 students for Cohort 30. (The average cohort is 20.)

Program Director Tojo Thatchenkery: The goal was to ‘create a truly interdisciplinary department which would be one of the first of its kind anywhere.’

“ODKM is the best kept secret at ��AV, and we don’t want to be a secret any longer,” said program director Tojo Thatchenkery. “It’s a unique program that is preparing working adults for the complex business environment so many are experiencing in this postpandemic reality.”

After three decades of developing leaders in a variety of for-profit and nonprofit industries, “we are focusing a lot of energy on recruitment while celebrating 30 years of this program that has turned out so many influential changemakers over the years,” he said.

New core faculty member Stacey Guenther is up for the challenge. She joins after serving as an adjunct faculty member of the program and is herself a 2004 alumna of ODKM, cohort number seven.

“ODKM is near and dear to my heart. It was deeply transformative for me, and my life changed radically after I entered the program,” Guenther said.

Stacey Guenther: ‘It was deeply transformative for me, and my life changed radically after I entered the program.’

Guenther has been closely connected to George Mason since graduating 20 years ago. She was one of the founding staff members of the university’s Center for Consciousness and Transformation (now known as the Center for the Advancement of Well-Being), worked as a corporate facilitator at George Mason’s team development and experiential learning facility the EDGE, and for five years served as adjunct faculty for the School of Integrative Studies.

In addition to teaching in the program, Guenther will spearhead ODKM’s #30in30 campaign, which will involve a social media push, the development of an advisory board, alumni relations efforts, and relationship-building with local and regional organizations.

“I’m looking forward to telling the ODKM story,” she said. “It is the only program of its kind in the immediate region, and there is no better academic program for leaders and helping professionals in the area.”

In mid-September, the current cohort of ODKM students hosted a daylong learning community in which they became instructors to those from many walks of life and at varying stages of their own careers. The capstone event is traditional in the program as the Schar School students practice what they have learned in the course. This learning community’s theme was styles of conflict and titled “The Art of the Ordeal: Conflict Tools and Techniques.”

ODKM was founded by Thatchenkery as he was completing his PhD dissertation at Case Western University in April 1993.

“I was looking for a job in a business school, but what I was working on—postmodernism and hermeneutics—wasn’t particularly attractive to them,” he said with a laugh.

As it happened, George Mason was beginning a new academic department called Program on Social Organizational Learning (PSOL), with a tenure-track position for researching and teaching hermeneutics. “Within an hour I had sent my application,” he said.

The cohort-based ODKM program features a “learning community” capstone, where students take over as teachers. Photo by Bryan Regalado.

The founders of the program, economics professors Don Lavoie and Jack High, “wanted to create a truly interdisciplinary department which would be one of the first of its kind anywhere,” Thatchenkery said. “As we all know, academic departments have disciplinary boundaries. Economics departments have economists and psychology departments have psychologists. But how about a department with faculty from different disciplines such as sociology, psychology, anthropology, computer sciences, literature, management, and economics?”

That was, he said, “a revolutionary idea at that time and I was sold on it. A few weeks later I would get a job offer from Don Lavoie and my first day on the job was mid-August 1993.”

It wasn’t long after that Thatchenkery was pitching a master’s program in organization learning (OL), which would be the first such program anywhere, he said. After much internal maneuvering around various disciplines and hard-earned approval by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), the PSOL degree program launched in fall 1996 with its first 23 students, cohort number one.

The program was rebranded ODKM in fall 2009 and continues to teach mid-career students leadership, creative problem-solving, and analytical skills invaluable to their organization, work, and lives.

For more information about George Mason’s Organization Development and Knowledge Management program, see the program’s website.

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Stacey K. Guenther

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Ian Candy’s First Year: Combining Politics, Neuroscience, and Forensics—to Help Others

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 14:00:36 +0000

Ian Candy’s First Year: Combining Politics, Neuroscience, and Forensics—to Help Others Andrew J Schappert Wed, 08/14/2024 - 10:00

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Ian Candy’s interest in politics developed early, at age 10, when he found he enjoyed watching political news shows with his parents instead of cartoons.

“My parents love watching the news,” he said. “And oddly enough, I enjoyed it. I ended up becoming very invested with the political side of the news…. This love for democracy that was planted in me as a child has only grown. The roots of this seed have cemented, making the study of government and international politics dear to my heart.”

Ian Candy: ‘It is no secret that our democracy can light up a room in a second, but just as quickly cover it in shadows.’

As a first-year student at the Schar School of Policy and Government at ��AV, Candy will major in government and international politics at a Carnegie Research 1 institution that happens to be located just a few miles from Washington, D.C. Both of those were “huge check marks on my list” of potential schools, he said.

“It is no secret that our democracy can light up a room in a second, but just as quickly cover it in shadows,” he said. “No stranger to governmental legislation targeting my communities, I have and will continue to advocate for anyone facing those shadows.”

The South Dakota native will double major in neuroscience at George Mason’s College of Science, a program that prepares students for medical and health-related fields.

“I truly believe that the breadth of both fields lends themselves to a great deal of intersectionality not seen in many other double majors,” he said. “Neuroscience captivates me, but imperatively, I feel a duty to study this field.”

Candy said that “the people in my life that are closest to me have and continue to struggle with mental illness and brain function disorders. Researching the causes and solutions to ‘give back’ [to those in need] would be incredibly fulfilling.”

Candy is convinced that he can overcome what he calls “the ambiguous intersectionality between neuroscience and government” with a third interest of his: storytelling. In fact, the University Scholar and Honors College student will hone his storytelling skills as a member of George Mason’s forensics team, which placed second in the nation in 2024.

“What I found most remarkable about him was that he is very engaging and likeable,” said forensics director Dawn Lowry, who recruited Candy at the National Speech and Debate Association’s high school expo in Des Moines, Iowa. “He has a great energy and when he is into something, he wants to know everything about that subject.”

Meeting Lowry and other members of the team made Candy feel “welcomed and at home, just from the few conversations I had,” he said.

While a career path is still uncertain for the new college student, “I hope to achieve what 10-year-old me envisioned: to help other people.

“Whether that looks like a career defending others in the courtroom, providing psychiatric assistance to patients, drafting science and technology-based policy, or working on something that doesn’t even exist yet, helping others—while hearing and advocating for their stories—is my main goal.”

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George Mason Students Secure Second in the Country in Collegiate Speech

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 01 May 2024 15:37:22 +0000

George Mason Students Secure Second in the Country in Collegiate Speech Andrew J Schappert Wed, 05/01/2024 - 11:37

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The ��AV Forensics Team poses with its 2nd place trophy at the National Forensic Association Tournament.

On any given Saturday, you might find the members of the ��AV Forensics Team, or intercollegiate speech team, huddled together in an empty classroom.

After a rousing round of vocal warmups, the students—nearly half of them students in the Schar School of Policy and Government—join hands and recite “The Covenant,” a poem passed down since the team’s founding more than 50 years ago. At the completion of the poem and a after a round of pep talks from coaches and captains, the team disperses to compete against teams from across the country for the title of most persuasive, informative, or poetic speaker (among other titles).

With a glance at the “wall of champions,” students can trace their competitive lineage decades back—with Schar School students scattered throughout the wall. One alumnus, former captain Jacob Thompson and two-time national champion, credits the Schar School for its seamless integration with the team.

“Being a Schar School student and competing on the Mason speech team is really the best of both worlds,” he said. “You get a chance to travel the country and practice your advocacy with the team then directly apply those skills to help change the country through the connections and opportunities the Schar School provides.”

The Forensics Team has existed longer than Mason itself. With a focus on both competitive success and education, the team has attracted Schar School students since its founding. Its current cohort of 10 Schar School students compete in a wide range of events, from poetry interpretation to extemporaneous speaking—an event in which the speaker is given a political question and 30 minutes to prep a seven-minute memorized answer with sources and argumentation. Students hail from across the country with varying prior speech experience, but one thing binds them together: a passion for advocacy.

Evanna Koury, a first-year Schar School government and international politics major, sought the speech team as an avenue for both personal and academic passions.

“Being a queer, disabled woman interested in government and political advocacy is challenging because I can't often get my foot in the door,” she said. “The Forensic Team changed that. I get seven to 10 minutes of uninterrupted talking time to amplify my voice with an amazing community.”

Mason’s speech team has been among its most successful competitive teams of all time. The team has been a Top 5 national program consistently since its founding, taking second in the country at the national championships for the past three years.

With advocacy as a focus, it is unsurprising the teams student population is so dominated by Schar School students, including seniors Molly Izer and Eleni Mercer, who share the team’s captainship and are both students in the Honors College. In fact, Schar School students earned an impressive array of awards at this year’s 2024 American Forensic Association National Speech Tournament, held in April, as well as taking second place in Division I at the National Forensic Association Tournament, its sister tournament held just a week later.

Eleni Mercer, senior government and international politics major
- Semifinalist, Informative Speaking (AFA)
- 2nd place, Program Oral Interpretation (AFA)
- National Champion, Program Oral Interpretation (NFA)
- Semifinalist, Poetry Interpretation (AFA)
- 9th place Individual Sweepstakes (AFA)
- 2nd place, Duo Interpretation (AFA)
- Octofinalist, After Dinner Speaking (NFA)
- Octofinalist, Informative Speaking (NFA)
- 3rd place, Duo Interpretation (NFA)
Molly Izer, senior government and international politics major
- Semifinalist, Impromptu Speaking (AFA)
- 4th place, Impromptu Speaking (NFA)
- National Champion, Informative Speaking (AFA)
- National Champion, Informative Speaking (NFA)
- National Champion, Poetry Interpretation (AFA)
- Quarterfinalist, Persuasive Speaking (NFA)
Grace Martinez-Cora, freshman government and international politics major
- Octofinalist, Poetry Interpretation (NFA)
Lexi Martinez, sophomore government and international politics major
- Quarterfinalist, Prose Interpretation (AFA)
- Octofinalist, Prose Interpretation (NFA)
- Semifinalist, Informative Speaking (AFA)
- Octofinalist, Dramatic Interpretation (NFA)
- Quarterfinalist, Informative Speaking (NFA)

“It is always exciting to have Schar School majors on the team,” said Dawn Lowry, director of the Forensics Team and lifetime forensicator. “They possess the unique combination of idealism and practicality. They can see a better world, but they also understand the institutional and societal structures that shape our lives.”

While the team continues to attract many Schar School students, each Forensics Team alum leaves the experience a passionate advocate, citizen, and human being.

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Schar School Alumna Shares Unique Insights on Her Journey to Immigration Policy Work

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 13:38:34 +0000

Schar School Alumna Shares Unique Insights on Her Journey to Immigration Policy Work Andrew J Schappert Mon, 04/29/2024 - 09:38

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��AV alumna Sophia Wozniak, who double majored in history and government and international politics, served as a guest speaker for the Schar School of Policy and Government’s International Relations Policy Task Force students during their spring break trip to the United States-Mexico border.

‘The Schar School was such a huge catalyst in the dominos of me ending up where I am now.’

Wozniak, who graduated in 2019, shared with students her journey from a graduate to a project and data evaluator at the Emergence Health Network, a local mental health authority for the El Paso, Texas, community.

She emphasized how influential the Schar School has been on her career. While at George Mason, she served as a research assistant, participated in the Oxford study-abroad program, and completed the Arlington Fellows Program.

“My trajectory changed with the study-abroad program I did with the Schar School, a winter one-week immersion trip in Mexico City on U.S.-Mexico relations,” Wozniak said. “It was really informative, and it got me really interested in North American relations.”

Wozniak was so deeply influenced by her various Schar School experiences that she moved to El Paso after graduation to make greater change. There, she completed her master’s degree in political science at the University of Texas in El Paso.

Before transitioning into immigration policy work, Wozniak was a program coordinator contributing to community development at El Paso.

“I worked as a program coordinator for after-school programs for high school students for three years where I provided job training, college preparation, general mentorship and family coordination,” she said.

While she enjoyed her work in social services, she felt compelled to transition into policy work, leading her to the Emergence Health Network. In her current role, Wozniak focuses on government contracting for mental health services for people who are uninsured or underinsured, as well as working on internal policy in El Paso.

“The Schar School was such a huge catalyst in the dominos of me ending up where I am now,” she said. “If it were not for the spring break trip to Mexico, I would have never discovered my deep interest in immigration issues and policy work.”

For now, Wozniak enjoys the internal policy work in which she engages and the significant positive impact it has on immigrant and minority families. She hopes one day to return to the Washington, D.C., to further focus on policy, where she believes her personal experiences in El Paso will provide a unique perspective required for legislation impacting migrants’ lives, a view she feels policy makers often lack.

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Democracy Lab Members Get an Inside Look at the President’s Residence—the White House

Andrew J Schappert — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 17:25:28 +0000

Democracy Lab Members Get an Inside Look at the President’s Residence—the White House Andrew J Schappert Thu, 04/18/2024 - 13:25

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Jennifer N. Victor

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Schar School Democracy Lab students and Associate Professor Jennifer Victor, far left, pose for a photo at the White House. Photos by Buzz McClain/Schar School of Policy and Government

Jesse David Duvall, center, takes in the sights of the Green Room. The room is usually used for receptions and small formal dinners.

Joe Biden wasn’t home—he was campaigning in Pennsylvania—when 27 members of the Schar School of Policy and Government’s undergraduate learning community, Democracy Lab, paid a visit on Wednesday to the president’s home at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in northwest Washington, D.C.

The field trip to the White House, led by associate professor Jennifer N. Victor and Master of Public Policy student and learning communities assistant Mariem K. El Gazzah, was the first visit for most of the students, who are first-year government and international politics students at ��AV.

“I think it was magical,” said Sierra Hill, originally from Gypsum, Colorado, after the self-guided tour. “Looking at the state dinner room, it made me think about the global power of the United States and how diplomacy happens right there.”

Lacey Eckert, a freshman from New Jersey, was happy to finally see the president’s house from the inside after looking at it from the other side of the wrought iron security fence several times. “But it’s a little over-hyped,” she said. “I wish we could see a little bit more, like the Oval Office, but it’s still a privilege to see inside.”

Students began the day by joining a line at the East Gate with other visitors for the multipoint security check-in before following winding corridors and eventually finding themselves inside. Surprisingly, the White House gift shop is the first room encountered. (“Isn’t the gift shop usually at the end of the ride?” one tourist commented.)

The tour continued down an East Wing corridor boasting a gallery of photos of past presidents, their families, and their pets. The Library, China Room, Green Room, Red Room, Blue Room, red velvet movie theater, and other rooms were open to look into but not enter.

Although the 45-minute tour was self-guided, Secret Service officers stationed in each room doubled as helpful docents.

“The guards were very knowledgeable about the historic paintings,” said Anastasia Rea, a native of Toledo, Ohio. “They were able to give us a lot of interesting information about where the portraits fit into American history and why they belonged in the White House.”

Like many, Jesse David Duvall was taken aback at the size of the interior of the world’s most famous private residence.

“I thought it would be a lot bigger on the inside, but it’s actually kind of small,” he said.

His key observation? The house “is actually for the president,” he said. “It’s not really meant for tourists. The main purpose of the White House is for the president and his staff. And you can see that in the operation of the house.”

Indeed, off limits to the public are the Oval Office, the Cabinet Room, the Situation Room, the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room, the Navy Mess, the Treaty Room, and most of the other 132 rooms (and 35 bathrooms) in the six-level residence.

The tour was followed by a Domino’s-catered debriefing in nearby Franklin Park.

For Hill and Rea, it was their second Schar School-sponsored visit to the White House in six months. During their first visit, Joe Biden actually was there.

Jennifer Victor snaps a group selfie following the White House tour.

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Remembering Mari Tisera: Mason Confers a Rare Posthumous Degree

Andrew J Schappert — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:19:04 +0000

Remembering Mari Tisera: Mason Confers a Rare Posthumous Degree Andrew J Schappert Wed, 04/17/2024 - 10:19

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McKenna Beauchamp, left, and Mari Tisera. Photos provided.

‘She lit up every room. She had no enemies, and her laughter is unlike anything I’ve ever heard.’ - McKenna Beauchamp

For just the 32nd time in the 52-year history of the school, ��AV will confer a posthumous degree.

Mari Tisera, a student in the Schar School of Policy and Government’s Government and International Politics program, will receive her bachelor of arts degree at the Schar School’s Degree Celebration on May 10 at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia. Tisera passed away June 6, 2023, of melanoma. She was 20 years old.

It is just the third posthumous degree awarded to a Schar School student. Mason alumna McKenna Beauchamp, a 2022 integrative studies graduate, was not going to have it any other way.

Beauchamp was transferring from John Tyler Community College (now Brightpoint Community College) in 2020 when she met Tisera during an incoming new student group chat. Despite the group chat being virtual due to the Covid campus lockdown, the two became best friends, a relationship that blossomed when in-person opportunities resumed.

“She was diagnosed her freshman year,” Beauchamp said, still in awe of her friend’s indefatigability. “She worked, she went to school, she would do her homework during her treatments and come to campus to take an exam.”

Beauchamp, who is now event coordinator for the nonprofit Big Brothers Big Sisters of the National Capital Area, did not learn of Tisera’s disease until a year after they met. “She was so strong,” she said, “and she didn’t want anybody to really know about it.”

Despite the disease and the debilitating and time-consuming treatments, Tisera packed her short college career with as many opportunities as she could in her pursuit of her goal of an eventual law degree.

In addition to studying government, she was also a Spanish language minor and organized marches for women’s, LGBTQ, and Black rights, and continually fought for the rights of the unhoused. She was proud to be a “sweetheart” for the Mason campus fraternity Zeta Psi, a symbolic position for women that afforded her opportunities to contribute to the fraternity’s activities.

In July, U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui (D-CA) delivered a eulogy from the House floor honoring her. Tisera was an intern for the congresswoman.

“It was wonderful having Mari serve in my Capitol Hill office at the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022,” Matsui said. “She worked hard, was eager to learn, and served my constituents and all visitors with kindness and warmth.

“I know that Mari has said that all of us in the office had a positive impact on her, but she also had a positive impact on all of us who worked with her that we will never forget. Mari wanted to come back and work in our office after she graduated, and it would have been an honor to have her back on our team.” (A full transcript can be found on this page.)

“She never let her cancer define her or hold her back in any way,” said Beauchamp, who was relentless in advocating for the rare posthumous degree. “She lit up every room. She had no enemies, and her laughter is unlike anything I’ve ever heard. It just really brings joy to everybody.”

Tisera’s mother and father, who immigrated from Argentina in 2000 and live in Front Royal, Virginia, where Mari was raised, will be in attendance at the Degree Celebration, Beauchamp said, as will her brothers and their wives.

Beauchamp will be there as well.

“I’ve turned something positive out of all this,” she said. “It’s really a good thing to celebrate. It’s helping me with closure so I’m sure it’s helping other people as well.”

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Schar Study Abroad Immerses Students in U.S. Mexico Border Policy, Security, and Immigration

Andrew J Schappert — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 20:04:50 +0000

Schar Study Abroad Immerses Students in U.S. Mexico Border Policy, Security, and Immigration Andrew J Schappert Mon, 04/08/2024 - 16:04

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Members of the Schar School study abroad contingent gather in front of a mural at the National Autónomous University of México. Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera is at center.

Following the coattails of President Biden’s highly publicized visit to Brownsville, Texas, a cadre of graduate students from ��AV’s Schar School of Policy and Government arrived for a week of academic activity along the U.S.-Mexico border and in Mexico City.

Unlike a parallel trip to the same region at the same time by the Schar School’s International Relations Policy Task Force (you can read their story at this page), “our trip was about the U.S.-Mexico relations during a time of elections,” said Professor Guadalupe Correa-Cabrera, a foremost expert on border and immigration policy who accompanied the students.

“Border developments are perhaps the most consequential policy issue of this time,” said Michal McElwain Malur, director of external programs at the Schar School, who assembled the itinerary and helped lead the trip to the border for a second year in a row.

“Since the inception of its study abroad program, the Schar School has prioritized providing students with opportunities to explore consequential policy problems facing the U.S. today.”

“We spent one whole day at the border, specifically at the border wall, and we spoke at length with a local editor about border security,” added Correa-Cabrera. “It was important to see this issue through the eyes of someone who covers it for newspapers for a population that relies on accurate information.”

Along the way they met with top industry and government leaders on both sides of the border, with whom they freely discussed the ongoing issues that keep the U.S.–Mexico affiliation at the top of international headlines.

“Putting a face to the border was fascinating,” said Davis Kaderli, a Master of Public Policy student and participant on the trip. “What I actually saw isn’t what the mass media often portrays. It is much more complex than the majority of Americans understand.”

For instance, while in Brownsville, Texas, the students heard harrowing stories of inadequate services provided to Americans in need along the border. In Boca Chica, during a visit to the sprawling SpaceX campus, students met with residents in government partnerships and discussed their views on how SpaceX impacts their community.

“The meetings we had gave insight and were candid discussions,” said Chris Williams, a student in the Schar School’s Master of Global Commerce program. Williams added that anybody immersing themselves in a degree with a global perspective should seek out study abroad opportunities.

A significant component of the trip was a visit to the political capital of Mexico City and the National Autónomous University of México (UNAM), where students engaged in conversations with decision makers and attended lectures.

“Mexico is having elections in June this year,” Correa-Cabrera said. “The U.S. is having them in November. We put these elections in context for the students.”

Upon arriving in Mexico City, the students received a briefing from Miguel Siliceo, the senior economic advisor to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

On International Women’s Day, the cohort of students was officially welcomed by the president of the federal senate of the Republic of Mexico, who recognized them from the Senate floor, followed by a meeting with a Mexican senator. The students said they gained insights from Mexican officials and policymakers on mutually shared challenges, as well as new avenues for cooperation and engagement.

“We had ridiculous access on this study abroad, from [President López Obrado’s] senior economic advisor to a legislative briefing at the Mexican federal senate by the vice president of the Senate,” said Willaims.

Students met with a panel of diplomatic staff at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and received an interactive briefing on the challenges in the upcoming presidential election.

“The five speakers at the embassy was my favorite session,” said Anduela Johnson, a student in the Schar School’s Master of International Security program. “It was interesting to hear how they are managing security issues and balancing economic implications.”

“They see the relationship with the U.S. and our shared border differently. The entire experience was a true joy,” said Johnson. On topics ranging from security and trade policy to the challenges of the upcoming election with two female candidates, each discussion sparked fascinating discussions and means for collaboration between the sets of students.

“My favorite part of this trip was hearing many perspectives,” said Gabe Dole, one of the undergraduates on the trip and a student in the Schar School’s Government and International Politics major. “I really valued the range of perspectives we heard.”

“The Schar School of Policy and Government offered two complimentary study abroad programs to the U.S. Mexico border this spring,” said Malur. “The fact they were both at the border is a testament to the Schar School being a policy school and offering our students the opportunity to hear and see firsthand policy debates and consequences of policies in action.“

Study abroad opportunities are important to a Schar School education, no matter the level or degree program. Trips include programs in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. To learn more about the school's study abroad programs, visit this site.

Not only did the Schar School students receive a shout out from the Senate floor, they were invited to a briefing in a committee room and to sit at Senate desks.

Topics

study abroad

Master of Public Policy

Master of Global Commerce and Policy

Immigration

Trade

International Relations Policy Task Force