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Inside Washington eliminates fall program

Students in the Inside Washington summer 2010 program take in the view on the Speaker's Balcony at the Capitol Building.
Students in the Inside Washington summer 2010 program take in the view on the Speaker's Balcony at the Capitol Building.

Lee Jones, Staff Writer

Students in the Inside Washington summer 2010 program take in the view on the Speaker's Balcony at the Capitol Building. (Contributed Photo)

Twelve years ago, Miami University's Inside Washington Program was a two-day tour of Washington, D.C. The program has expanded over the years to include taking groups during both semesters and the summer, but all of that is changing.

Howard Kleiman, program coordinator for Inside Washington, said the hope was to be able to have the opportunity for students to partake in the program for both semesters and the summer, but he fears Miami's presence may be taxing its partners in the capital.

"What has come to our attention is that we are stretching our resources," Kleiman said. "We have this great roster of speakers and great internship sites, but if we go back to them too many times they may become uncomfortable."

Journalism clinical faculty member Cheryl Gibbs is on the current Inside Washington trip, and she agreed this is a major strain.

"During each of the programs, the staff arrange for 60 to 70 speakers," Gibbs said. "When you multiply from arranging 60 speakers to 120 speakers a year, it takes time to build up the ‘speaker pool' so that the same people don't speak every time. It's my understanding that the staff felt that kind of increase was straining the resources."

Kleiman said the coordinators thought a good middle ground would be to offer only the spring semester and the summer program. Kleiman said the summer trip takes double the students who participate in the spring trip and makes accommodations easier for partners in Washington.

"Students are doing internships in June and July and not again until March or April," Kleiman said. "It gives everyone a breather."

This schedule is meant to take some of the pressure off both Miami faculty and the program's speakers and internship sites.

Despite the fact that one semester is being cut, coordinators do not expect the selection process to be more competitive. Since they consistently take fewer students than the maximum, by eliminating a semester, they hope to be able to take a full 15-student group instead of the usual 12.

"I would love to get more students out there," Kleiman said.

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He called Inside Washington "one of the really special programs away from Oxford" and said it is better to recognize and respect the extent of Miami's resources in order to maintain the program.

Junior Mallory Evans is currently participating in Inside Washington. She is interning with Voice of America, helping to write scripts and she even helped interview Jordanian author Rana Husseini, who wrote a book about honor killings called Murder in the Name of Honour.

"Fall is such an exciting time in Washington," Evans said, referring to the upcoming mid-term elections.

She said she understood the reason for cutting the fall program, though.

"The caliber of speakers we've had has been really cool and I'd hate to see it decline because of fatigue," she said.