The following is a guest contribution and reflects the authors’ views alone. For information on how to submit a piece to the Opinion section, click here.
This year has been unlike any other for SPIA’s Scholars in the Nation’s Service (SINSI) program. For almost 20 years, SINSI has guided Princeton students toward careers in public service through fellowships and internships with government agencies. But as academia and the federal workforce have adapted to rapid policy changes, SINSI has had to adapt too.
The six of us have recently served or are serving in government positions as these changes take place; several of us have had the unique experience of working in offices that were eliminated or completely repurposed during our time there.
It has been a gut-wrenching experience to see our coworkers fired and our former offices dismantled. But we have come away convinced — often by those very same coworkers — that public service has never been more important for our country or for our generation.
Even in this wildly politicized moment, we have all worked on policies that overcame partisan wrangling in order to serve Americans. We have all seen courageous coworkers speak up in defense of worthwhile programs, with varying degrees of success. And most importantly, we have seen all the good that thoughtful public policy can accomplish — including that which usually goes unnoticed.
We hope that our experiences will shed some light on the good work still being done and the opportunities that still exist in government service.
We have chosen to share some of our experiences because we regularly hear our generation’s disillusionment with public service. Their hesitation to enter public service is understandable — mass firings of civil servants and the elimination of entire agencies are unlikely to inspire people to seek careers in government. But if anything, these developments underscore how important it is that those who remain are conscientious and principled public servants, willing to resist inappropriate political pressure and fulfill the obligations of their office.
One of us had an offer with the U.S. Treasury Department that was canceled due to the hiring freeze imposed at the beginning of the Trump administration. She instead worked with the State of New Jersey in Governor Phil Murphy’s Office of Policy. The work involved analyzing how new policy measures, like tariffs and Medicaid cuts from the One Big Beautiful Act, would impact the state. Even when federal opportunities are limited, states and cities offer equally impactful ways to serve. States can often move faster and be bolder than the federal government in serving their citizens’ needs, especially in times of prolonged gridlock or instability at the federal level.
Working in humanitarian assistance at the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) in the Department of State, one of us was deeply concerned about what the transition between administrations would mean to the office and staff. PRM’s staff, a combination of civil and foreign service, are dedicated public servants. Despite upheaval in mission and grant funding, the staff resiliently continued in their service, advocating fiercely for the continuation of its essential work. Although the majority of PRM’s funding and much of its staff were cut, their records will show how many lives had been saved and could be saved.
These experiences teach SINSI scholars how crucial systems, like the system of humanitarian assistance, work on a daily basis, and how those systems can be unmade. When the tides turn back to the importance of humanitarian work, we will be ready to serve.
Government work has a tendency to hide the meaningful under the mundane. One of us worked at an embassy during and after the presidential transition, which took up the vast majority of everyone’s time, resources, and bandwidth. But in any government office, there is always essential work — work that is only noticed if it doesn’t get done.
Moments stood out that were far from newsworthy, but no less meaningful for it: updating an embassy website so that people did not show up for nonexistent visa appointments; trying to to maintain contacts with civil society even if the embassy could no longer offer grant money; or something as personal as ensuring that released political prisoners had a private space to reunite with their families. Those small tasks all meant a great deal to someone. The chance to do that kind of work will not go away anytime soon.
It is sometimes difficult to see the value of service in times of instability, disinvestment in public services, eroding public trust in government, and an uncertain job market. But even in times of massive turmoil, public service is still able to drive initiatives that aren’t sufficiently politicized to make newspaper headlines.
Public service can exert genuine influence on policy, earn back trust in our institutions, and to model integrity transparency in government. We are motivated by two shared principles: the belief that this moment demands more engagement and that it would be a mistake to cede the work of government to those who think it does not matter.
Joe Shipley (jms7[at]princeton.edu), Ryan Sung (ryansung[at]princeton.edu), Rooya Rahin (rrahin[at]princeton.edu), Sarah Lee (sarahlee[at]princeton.edu), Christian Slavin (cs1314[at]princeton.edu), and Ella Gantman (egantman[at]princeton.edu) are SINSI Scholars. Sarah Lee worked at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in the White House Office of Management and Budget, and later as a Graduate Fellow in the New Jersey Governor’s Office of Policy. Rooya Rahin served as a Graduate Fellow at the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and now serves as an Economic Fellow at the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa. Joe Shipley served as a Graduate Fellow at the State Department’s Belarus Affairs Unit and the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania.
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