During the summer of 2007, Matthew Weiss ’07 traced the history of the JFK desk’s ownership and authenticated its historical significance at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston and through oral histories in the Washington, D.C., area. Now in his first year at Brooklyn Law School, he graduated from Lafayette summa cum laude with majors in economics & business and government & law.

Tom Feehan ’79 and his wife, Cecilia, of Hyattsville, Md., own the JFK desk. They are restoring it with plans to donate it to the policy studies program in memory of Cecilia’s mother, Jeannie Brickerd.

Author and Washington Post Reporter Juliet Eilperin Lectures
“The Battle over Planet Earth: Environmental Policy in an Era of Political Polarization"

On the evening of April 4th approximately 100 students and faculty gathered in Kirby Hall of Civil Rights to attend a lecture by Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post reporter and author of "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the U.S. House of Representatives.”

Co-sponsored by the Policy Studies Program and the Department of Economics and Business, the lecture addressed the politics of the environment in the U.S. Congress and the present barriers to enacting bi-partisan proposals.

Mark Crain, Simon Professor of Political Economy and chair of Policy Studies, believes Eilperin’s visit emphasized some of the most challenging issues facing today’s policy makers, and some of the obstacles to reaching any sort of political agreement.

“Climate change and environmental quality are two hotly-debated and important issues, and Ms. Eilperin is a close observer of the latest proposals and the status of the political debate in Washington," says Crain. "For nearly a decade as a reporter for the Washington Post,she has covered theUnited StatesHouse of Representatives and the environment for the national desk, reporting on science, policy, and politics.

“The purpose of bringing prominent speakers like Ms. Eilperin to Lafayette is threefold. Specifically, I want to heighten awareness of the most important issues of our time: in this case, the environment and climate change. Second, I think students need to ask whether the U.S. legislative process is capable of solving monumentally important problems, and if it cannot, they should think about what structural reforms are needed. Third, Ms. Eilperin’s career in journalism provides a fascinating example for students who are looking for professions in which they can apply their interest in politics.”

Eilperin graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University in 1992, where she received a bachelor’s degree in politics with a certificate in Latin American studies. In the fall of 1992, she went to Seoul, South Korea on a Luce Scholarship, which allowed her to cover politics and economics for an English-language magazine. Upon returning to Washington, Eilperin wrote for Louisiana and Florida newspapers at States News Service and then joined Roll Call newspaper in 1994. In March 1998, she joined the Washington Post as its House of Representatives reporter, where she covered the impeachment of Bill Clinton, lobbying, legislation, and four national congressional campaigns.

Scholars, journalists, and policy makers from around the globe lectured on campus March 1-2 as part of Lafayette’s “Facing the Chinese Century: Prospects and Challenges” conference.

Hosted by the College’s new Policy Studies program, the conference focused on the transformation of China's cities, technological infrastructure, and culture industry, which has helped bring the country to the level of a significant modern power. It also explored the reasons why, regardless of its rising status in the world, China remains a mystery to many people. The goal of the conference was an attempt to demystify this dynamic country.

“China-related issues have not received the attention they deserve,” says Mark Crain, Chair of Policy Studies and Simon Professor of Political Economy. “We have this emerging giant that has become an economic, cultural, and military leader. It is hard to think of a more important on-going development, and we hope to elevate awareness among Lafayette students. Otherwise, they will miss out on critical challenges and opportunities.”

Two Policy Studies faculty affiliates, Paul Barclay, associate professor of history, and Nicole Crain, visiting professor of economics and business, contributed to planning the program and served as panel moderators.

The conference format consisted of five panels of world renowned experts on Chinese affairs speaking on topics ranging from East Asian security to China's demographic shifts.

“This conference reflected the broad depth of the Policy Studies program", says Crain. "It is becoming increasingly important to analyze policy from an interdisciplinary approach. Analyzing and understanding China, for example, rely on tools from history, economics, political science and law, and the sciences. This is exactly the approach embodied in the policy studies major. Lafayette is reaching across disciplines, pursuing the highest levels of academic excellence.”

From a global perspective, Crain hoped the conference showed potential faculty and students that the College is not only interested, but actively engaged, in what is happening in China and East Asia.

The conference’s opening lecture, “China’s Past: A Harbinger of Its Future?” was presented by Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History at Yale University in Colton Chapel. Spence is a preeminent scholar of Chinese history, having published more than a dozen books on the subject.

Other speakers lectured and lead discussions throughout the second day of the conference. These included: Hu Zhaoming, counselor at the Chinese Embassy in the United States; Yoshihide Soeya, professor of political science and international relations at Keio University in Japan; John Pomfret, Los Angeles Bureau Chief for The Washington Post; and Susan Greenhalgh, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine.

Edward Chen, President of Lingnan University in Hong Kong, and Cheng Li, William R. Kenan Professor of Government at Hamilton College and Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies program at the Brookings Institution, served as panel moderators.