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Credit: Photo by Nick Romanenko
Heather Lancaster, left, leans back in a
cushioned armchair as she and other
students in Advanced Studies in
Congressional Politics listen to
Professor Ross Baker analyze the recent
national political conventions. The
class takes place at Baker’s home on a
quiet street in Highland Park; students
frequently carpool to get there.
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Credit: Photo by Nick Romanenko
Ross Baker, professor of political
science, conducts his home seminar in
congressional politics. Baker provides
his students with coffee, Munchkins and
bagels from Dunkin’ Donuts.
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In Political Science 395 there was a bit of housekeeping to take care of. Roommates for the upcoming trip to Washington needed to be paired off. The class set up a meeting time and place to board vans for the capital. And Professor Ross Baker had to let in the kitchen contractor.
Out of hundreds of students who took Introduction to American Government last year, teaching assistants selected only 15 for an exclusive seminar offered every other year with one of the nation’s pre-eminent political scientists. The class? Advanced Studies in Congressional Politics. The classroom? Ross Baker’s Highland Park home.
“I thought, what a great opportunity to get a private school experience at a huge public school,” said University College student Heather Lancaster, who lounged in a stuffed armchair during one recent class. “Baker has such a great reputation.”
The students – mostly political science majors and of diverse electoral persuasions – gather in Baker’s living room every Wednesday for three hours to nosh on bagels and donuts and gab about politics. The two-period class is informal and takes place in Baker’s sun-drenched living room decorated with oriental rugs, dark wood furniture and an array of baby pictures. The small class size lends itself to fervent debate, as does the diversity in opinion, which Baker strives to meet within each group.
“There is nothing worse than having everybody there and they think the same way,” Baker said, adding that he also tries to recruit a balanced number of men and women and students from different colleges on the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus.
During the group’s second meeting, a crew of contractors worked in Baker’s gutted kitchen. “All this was supposed to be done before class started,” Baker told his students. “Hopefully there won’t be too much hammering.”
The liberal arts college experience was exactly what Baker sought when he established the class about 12 years ago. With financial help from California businessman and longtime Rutgers supporter Ken Boxley, Baker can buy coffee and donuts for the students every week and spring for a two-day trip to the nation’s capital.
“It’s a reward for students who really have an interest in politics, and I always get students who have a very lively and active interest,” Baker said. “At small liberal arts colleges, places like Amherst or Smith, professors do this. That doesn’t happen at a state university.”
This year, the Boxley fellows met with journalists from USA Today, Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News and World Report and Legal Times. On Capitol Hill, they met with Sens. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.), Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), New Jersey Reps. Rush Holt and Mike Ferguson, and California Rep. Howard Berman. They also had dinner with Francine Newsome Pfeiffer who heads up Rutgers’ Office of Federal Relations, and Stephanie King, a former Boxley fellow recently promoted to an executive post in the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“Both the Senate and House gift shops are open, so if you want to get an authentic U.S. Senate umbrella, a coaster, or a stuffed effigy of [Senate majority leader] Bill Frist, you can do that,” Baker joked.
Baker’s role in politics goes far beyond the banks of the Raritan. Before coming to Rutgers he was a research associate at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank, and served on the staffs of Sens. Walter F. Mondale, Birch Bayh and Frank Church. In 2000, he was a senior adviser to Sens. Hagel and Leahy.
“You walk around Capitol Hill with him and you can’t walk 10 feet without stopping to say hello to somebody,” said Brian Cahill, a former Boxley fellow who is now a staffer for Sen. Frank J. Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
This class is purely politics. There’s not much talk about policy issues except in the context of an election.
The students’ major project for the semester is to become experts on a smattering of congressional races across the country and produce a 20-page paper on the results.
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