Not nearly enough

The Robertson Foundation, which funds much of the Wilson School's (WWS) budget, has two complaints concerning the management of their funds: First, their money was wrongly diverted to endeavors involving departments outside of the Wilson School, and secondly, too few graduate students are entering the public sector after graduation. Without acknowledging the undergraduate program, the University has argued that in the last five years, between 37 and 55 percent of graduate students have "pursued" government service. The University has made no attempt to define what "pursued" means in this context and, combined with the imprecise figures provided by their spokesperson, this should arouse further suspicion.

Both the Times of Trenton and The Wall Street Journal have released detailed summaries of the Robertson family's grievances, much to the University's dismay. Besides attacking the publications themselves, the University has countered these reports with broad sweeping assertions on the Wilson Schol public service placement, Princeton Weekly Bulletin articles buttressing the Wilson School's image and an embrace of an increasingly liberal definition on what it means to be a public servant. Working at a private, left-wing think-tank can be viewed as public service in some circles, but most would point to those within the United States or local government if they wanted a leading example of public service engagement.

Professional schools all over the country aim to prepare their students for challenging careers in various industries, but some schools do it far better than others. The Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University is one such institution, known globally for producing one world-class journalist after another. You only have to encounter current and former students of Medill to understand the degree of seriousness and dedication that characterizes their students.

I found myself surrounded by Medill graduates when I interned at a news magazine in Chicago last summer. Many of my editors had either earned undergraduate or master's degrees there, and most had at least taken seminars there. The other intern in the office, Cassie, was a rising senior in the Medill school working for the magazine as part of her print journalism internship "requirement." She had already spent a summer doing a broadcast journalism internship. Cassie had other academic interests outside journalism, such as art and political science, but there was little question that journalism was her passion, and that it would play a significant role in her future.

I don't get that sense of seriousness with the undergraduate component of the Wilson School. Apart from the brand new Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative, there are few, if any, programs or requirements that push Wilson School majors to gain practical working experience in the federal or local government, as the school does not demand it. The Wilson School website makes it clear that the Wilson School does not attempt to "place students" in any public service jobs. Instead, students seeking help regarding graduate school or private-sector job and internship searches are "referred to the university's Office of Career Services (OCS) for primary support." OCS does a great job with advice for the general student body, but students within WWS deserve more specialized career service.

If you are lucky enough to find a public service internship, it is not wise to depend on the Wilson School for financial assistance, as they only provide "partial" financial support for students working as public service interns for the summer between junior and senior year. The Wilson School's "Resources and Job Opportunities Guide," leads to a laundry list of links to government organizations just as easily found by using Google.

So what does the undergraduate career support of the Wilson School consist of? The winning combination, according to the website, is "general advice, weekly job and internship leads via email, funding for unpaid summer internships, access to a fax machine, telephones and computers, student internship evaluations and alumni career surveys." With a career support structure like this, could we be surprised if we were to discover that the majority of WWS majors fail to pursue government working experience?

A simple display of the hard data would be most effective at dispelling the Robertson family's claims. But based on the less than rigorous undergraduate career support structure, I doubt that those numbers would do the Wilson School's case much good. The stereotype of the major with no intention to serve in government with students, looking only to join the world of investment banking, exists for a reason. Stereotypes often contain a grain of truth, and if the Wilson School wishes to change its image, it will have to move its undergraduates beyond the world of controlled case studies and task forces. With the amount of resources dedicated to this school, it only makes sense to demand far more from its students. David Smart is a history major from Los Angeles, Calif. He can be reached at dsmart@princeton.edu.