Roosevelt Institute CEO speaks about progressiveness

Andrew Rich, president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, spoke to students in the Brown Alley Room of Weinstein Hall on Monday night about the power of a progressive mind.

The Roosevelt Institute, a non-profit organization which opened a new chapter on campus, is the largest student-run public policy development effort in the U.S. with 126 chapters and 10,000 members. The institute upholds the "liberal vision" of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt by integrating it into today's society.

"We are a progressive leadership development organization," said Rich, a '92 UR graduate who began his presidency in January 2009.

The Institute, headquartered in Hyde Park, N.Y., comprises three units: a non-profit partner to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, a campus network spanning across the nation, and the Four Freedoms Center, which is the think tank.

Stanford and Yale students founded the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network in 2005 out of frustration from the 2004 elections.

"They were frankly really frustrated by people my age or older speaking for them," Rich said. In just three years, it spread to 60 campuses across the nation.

Rich focused on the importance of understanding capitalism versus democracy to see how they best work together. He also looked at parallels between the Roosevelt Era, the early 1990s, and today. Rich raised the concern of economic situations being comparable as well as the governmental disillusions.

Rich said that two political science professors made a great impact on him during his time at Richmond and sparked his interest in progressivism: Dan Palazzolo and John Whelan -- who has since retired.

"Both of them helped me to come to terms with my interests and encouraged me along the way," Rich said.

Palazzolo, who is on Sabbatical this semester, attended the speech. He serves as the faculty advisor for UR's Roosevelt Institute. Palazzolo spoke about the importance of Rich coming back to speak to the student body.

"This exemplifies what a Richmond student can do when they love educating others and inspiring others to service," Palazzolo said.

Both Rich and Palazzolo said they were hopeful that the younger generation can be the change that the U.S. needs economically and socially speaking.

This organization is important at UR because it not only brings up issues of public policy, but questions students on what the government means to them, Palazzolo said.

Palazzolo said that Franklin Roosevelt was keenly aware that people needed to make sacrifices to progress, which is a key point in this organization's foundation.

Sophomore Erik Lampmann and junior Sandra Zuniga Guzman founded the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network in the spring of 2011.

"From my perspective, I saw not enough political activity on either side and she [Zuniga Guzman] felt the same way," Lampmann said. He represented UR over the summer in the Hyde Park Leadership Summit.

There are roughly 20 active students in UR's campus network for the fall semester. There is no typical student that joins the organization; members range from political science majors to varsity-level athletes, Lampmann said.

"It is a very organic, individually-led organization," Lampmann said. "Roosevelt is a group of students dedicated to social change in a way that gets directly at the problem and solves it at a policy level."

Lampmann plans to host a forum this semester and write public policies to be published in the Roosevelt Institute's campus network "10 Ideas" series.

Contact reporter Laila Hart at laila.hart@richmond.edu