Graton Constitutional Essay Contest—2013

Three prizes of $1,500, $1,000, and $700 have been authorized for the best essays on the constitutional subject listed below. The awards are made from the income from shares of stock held in trust by the University of Maine and established for this purposed by the late Claude Dewing Graton, Class of 1900.

The subject of the 2013 competition is:

Law enforcement authorities have found the use of “drug sniffing” dogs to be a useful investigative tool. Do the efforts of these dogs constitute a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment? What has the Supreme Court’s approach to this question been? What should the Court’s approach be, in your opinion?

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Any regularly enrolled undergraduate student may enter the contest. The essay responding to the question above must be completed and submitted to the Office of the Administrative Assistant, Department of Political Science, 229 North Stevens Hall, no later than Friday, April 19, 2013, by 3 p.m.

The essays must be between 2000 and 5000 words in length, and must be a polished work. Adherence to the Style Manual for Political Science, APA, or other standard style reference is highly encouraged. A complete bibliography must accompany the essay, and proper citation must be followed throughout. The title page should contain only the title of the essay and the date. A separate cover page should contain the title, date, and student’s name and mailing address. The committee does not return essays submitted; students are advised to make a copy of their work before submission. The committee reserves the right to make no awards in a given year.

Judging criteria include:

• Attention to constitutional and legal issues
• Political and historical significance
• Completeness
• Logic and clarity of presentation
• Neatness and form
• Use of proper style and references in a form generally recognized in the social sciences

Additionally, essays must carefully define the limits of the topic at the outset of the essay: a good introduction and thesis statement are highly encouraged. The reading committee reserves the right not to award any of the prize money if it determines that no essay meets its standards.

Questions about the contest may be directed to Timothy Cole, Associate Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Science, phone 581-3844, and “Timothy Cole” on FirstClass.

Extra copies of this announcement are available in the office of the Administrative Assistant, Department of Political Science.

The Kenneth Palmer Maine State Legislative Internship Program is open to juniors and seniors on a competitive basis. It involves working on Tuesdays and Thursdays in Augusta for approximately 14 weeks, from early January until early May. Students are assigned to the office of a member of the legislative leadership. Readings and reports are required in addition to performing staff work in a legislative office. For further information, contact Professor Richard Powell, 243 North Stevens Hall.

An application form can be picked up from the Political Science Office (2nd Floor, N. Stevens Hall) or by clicking here.

PETER MADIGAN ‘81 CONGRESSIONAL INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

This program offers students the opportunity to earn 9-12 credits working in the Washington D.C. offices of Maine’s members of Congress during the Spring Semester.  Past interns have described their experience in D.C. as the highlight of their college careers.  Interns are paid a stipend for their work which substantially defrays the cost of living in D.C.  Applications are available in the Political Science office (2^nd Floor, North Stevens Hall) and here in pdf format. The deadline for submission of applications is Friday, October 19 at 3:00 pm.

For further information about this program, please contact Professor Richard Powell, 243 N. Stevens Hall, 581-1795.  (“Richard Powell” on First Class).

The Political Science Department is excited to announce the creation of two new minors, effective with the Fall 2012 semester. The minors are in Political Theory and The Constitution & American Law. Please contact visit the Majors & Minors tab on our website for additional information.

Political Science Students Learn From Student Conference at West Point

University of Maine political science students are gaining a new perspective on global issues thanks to an annual conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

“The conference was the highlight of my time at UMaine,” said junior Kevin Price, selected by the Political Science Department last year to attend the 61st Student Conference on United States Affairs (SCUSA). At the event, students from 125 colleges and universities across the country were asked to discuss the challenges the U.S. faces in a global society.

“We focused on the current economic crisis,” said Price. “We had to prepare a two page policy paper that would be presented to the President or an advisor about how to improve the economic situation.”

“My team suggested that the best way to help countries with weak economic systems would be for the U.S. to give financial aid directly to businesses instead of a government’s general fund. That way, we’d make sure the money would actually be used to help the people. We also suggested that the U.S. re-evaluate the aid we’re already giving to make sure it’s being utilized the way it should be and isn’t being wasted.

“It was a very politically diverse group that included some West Point cadets who had a more conservative approach than students from the University of San Diego who had different ideas,” said Price. “So we decided to keep our recommendations pretty much down the middle. That turned out to be a real challenge.

“We all saw the problem, but we had different ways of going about fixing it so we had to compromise. We decided to go with a somewhat liberal approach, but we made sure to include the idea of being more accountable.”

Condensing the recommendations was no easy task either, he said.

“Each of us could have written a term paper on the topic, but the idea was to leave our suggestions vague enough so that no one would be turned off by the details and would be able to flesh it out in his or her own way.”

Discussing ideas with exchange students from countries including Egypt and Nairobi gave Price a different point of view, he said.

“We heard first-hand from these international students about how our policy would affect their homeland. We realized that it’s easy to say that the government of a particular country is corrupt and that we should stop giving money. But once you put a face with a foreign country, it was difficult to have that outlook.”

Samantha Shulman, a senior who attended the student conference in 2008, said she also came away with a better understanding of other people’s perspectives.

“Our group explored different ways to deal with terrorism and discussed how using diplomacy could help decrease it. It was a pretty controversial topic since many members of my group had not only very different – but also very strong – opinions on how to tackle terrorism.

“There were people from both sides – some really conservative and others really liberal,” she continued. “They were from all different countries. I met students from Turkey, Ireland, England, and France. In the end we all got a better understanding of each other’s points of view. It was great meeting all kinds of people with different backgrounds who were interested in political science and policy making. ”

His conference featured a number of speakers including the advisor to President Carter and President Clinton and a representative from a global investment company whose job it was to travel the world and find companies in which to invest, said Price.

“He could be researching a company in China that seems promising and that could turn out to be the next Google. It seemed like a very exciting, interesting job.”

Both Price and Shulman said they enjoyed experiencing the lifestyle of a West Point cadet.

“We slept on an army issue cot with a scratchy wool blanket,” said Price. “We’d wake up at 5:30 a.m. which took some adjusting. West Point has the largest dining hall in North America. They can serve 4,000 people in 20 minutes. There was no lingering after meals. The food was quite good, though.”

Shulman said she knows now about the grueling regimen at military academies.

“The cadets go from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. with no break. It was really interesting to see the West Point culture.”