Vice President Dick Cheney Meets with 2006 Washington Term Program

Rising Junior Cross Country and Track & Field team member Lauren Morea (Cold Harbor Spring, NY) was among a group of Washington and Lee University Students to meet with Vice President Dick Cheney this past spring.  The full release is below. Vice President Dick Cheney meets with Professor Bill Connelly and Washington Term Program students from Washington and Lee University, Monday, April 24, 2006 in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. White House photo by David Bohrer.

Lexington, VA • July 17, 2006 — Vice President Dick Cheney met with Professor Bill Connelly and Washington Term Program students Monday, April 24, 2006 in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. The students discussed politics and policy with the Vice President for the better part of an hour. Other Washington Term speakers this year included CBS News Vice President Tom Mattesky, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Sarah Feinberg, along with two high ranking State Department officials, Anne Derse and Hank Hendrickson, who had just arrived back from a year in Iraq. Ms. Derse is currently U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Washington Term is an exercise in what political scientists dub "participant observation" research. The students' participant observation experience involves "soaking and poking" around the halls of Congress, the White House, think tanks, lobby shops and media outlets, including opportunities to interview policymakers and commentators. The sixteen students interned for the six week spring term in a variety of locations, including the offices of Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Republican National Committee, the Wilderness Society and the National Taxpayers Union, as well as Tim Russert's Meet the Press and The Hill newspaper.

This year Washington Term Program events outside the classroom included a C-span tour led by W & L alum Kristi Slafka, a visit to the Holocaust Museum, a Nationals baseball game, pizza with a long time Secret Service agent, and a W & L Alumni Reception hosted in the Capitol by recent alumni currently working on the Hill.

Professor Connelly teaches a Washington Term course designed to compliment the students' internship experiences. Readings this year included Machiavelli's The Prince and Campbell and Herrnson's War Stories from Capitol Hill. Professor Connelly established the Washington Term Program in 1987.