DC students build relationship with Capitol Hill
On a typical Friday morning, most college students would sleep in if they had the opportunity. Not in the nation’s capital, where some students don blazers and pantsuits to lobby on Capitol Hill.
For many years, students from American University, George Washington University, Georgetown University and the University of Maryland have set out in person for lawmakers’ offices to lobby on behalf of Israel. All four schools coordinated to send a total of more than 60 students to 31 senators’ offices on a lobbying day last month.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (the largest Israel lobby in D.C.-either centrist or right-wing, depending on who you ask) called in a representative from each school, where they talked about why an advocacy trip was so important right now, said Micah Deligdish, a junior at American and the political director of AU Students for Israel. From there, the groups organized to go to the Hill on the same day.
Representatives from each school reached out to various senators’ offices over the course of a month and a half to secure meetings with the senators or, as often as not, with their aides. When they could, student organizers tried to match up senators’ offices with students who are actual constituents.
“They get a lot of meeting requests. They want to make sure the meetings they are taking are with people from their state,” said Dan Wein, a sophomore at GWU and the president of GW Students Acting Politically for Israel.
They didn’t go in unprepared. All four of the schools had pre-departure meetings to go over basic talking points and information about senators. Some students were also trained by members of AIPAC on previous lobbying trips and at internships.
From a conference room with a clear view of the Capitol, high-level AIPAC leaders-including Managing Director Richard Fishman and Director of Leadership Development Jonathan Kessler-thanked the students for their participation in the day’s activities. One lobbyist gave them talking points, updates on legislation and strategies for the meetings, students told New Voices.
In the offices, students discussed the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and consistently thanked them for the previous day’s Senate vote that unanimously approved the Menendez-Kirk Amendment, enacting sanctions on Iran’s central bank. Students also stressed the significance of foreign aid to Israel and urged senators to condemn the Palestinians’ unilateral bid for statehood. (The students couldn’t have known then how it would turn out, but the bid was unsuccessful.)
Many of the sessions went well, and there was very little, if any, disagreement between the aides and the students, who both recognized the importance of a strong relationship between Israel and the United States.
But that doesn’t mean the events were useless, Deligdish said.
“When you lobby once, that’s not real lobbying. It’s all about follow-up,” Deligdish said. “It’s all about building the relationship and maintaining it. What [Kessler] said is, ‘When you lobby once a year, you’re showing that it’s one 365th of what you care about.’ So it’s going as much as you can, building relationships with these staffers and showing why Israel’s important to you and how it can be important to them.”
Many of the students on the trip emphasized that this would not be the last time they would advocate in D.C. for something they were passionate about.
“Youth are looking to be actively engaged,” said Matthew Redmond, a junior at Georgetown and the leader of his school’s contingent. “There’s a new breed of leadership coming.”
Zach C. Cohen is the New Voices associate editor and political correspondent. He is the student life editor of The Eagle at American University. Zach has contributed writing and reporting to TIME Magazine, The Jewish Daily Forward, AWOL, AmWord and the Suburban News. Follow him on Twitter at @Zachary_Cohen.
