Washington Seminar: from the Watergate hearings to national security briefings

Chris Pepple  | 

For 35 years, Lipscomb University’s Department of History, Politics and Philosophy has offered its Washington Seminar, enabling students to experience the heartbeat of Washington. Participating students have the rare opportunity to experience the Washington policymaking environment from the inside by engaging senior officials on their own turf. 

Participating students meet United States Senator Bob Corker
“When I went on the first Washington Seminar as a student in 1973, I was able to sit in on some of the Watergate hearings in the Senate offices. It was a very memorable experience that allowed me to watch history being made. I gained insights that I never could have picked up in a classroom alone,” said Craig Bledsoe (’75), Lipscomb’s provost and a professor of political science who also taught the Washington Seminar course.

Don Cole, visiting professor in political science, has led the Washington Seminar since 2000.  The course now focuses almost exclusively on national security and foreign affairs.  Cole is a retired Air Force intelligence officer, former Senior National Security Policy Officer at the State Department and former Executive Secretary of the U.S. Delegation on Nuclear Security and Dismantlement. 

“I first became involved with the Washington Seminar when I was working at the State Department. Craig Bledsoe was leading the course and called to ask if I could get his students inside. I hosted them for a seminar, took them through the Operations Center and in general exposed them to what the public does not see. Washington Seminar offers students what literally only a handful of universities can: access inside the national security establishment. Students go inside CIA, NSA, the Pentagon and State Department where they receive exclusive briefings by senior officials on topics ranging from U.S. nuclear policy and missile defense to thorny diplomatic challenges and counterterrorism. These officials then spend at least 30 minutes or so in a serious dialogue and Q&A. The students sit around a conference table and have a given senior policymaker all to themselves for up to an hour and a half.  They gain a real appreciation for both the complexity and dynamics of policymaking,” said Cole.

“On the trip we also have a chance to reconnect with our recent alumni, many of whom were participants in Washington Seminar and who now work for various agencies around official Washington. Many students make contacts on this trip that later lead to jobs. Students get to explore career possibilities through people actually on the scene,” Cole added.

Students go inside CIA, NSA, the Pentagon and State Department where they receive exclusive briefings by senior officials on their own turf.
“I had been to Washington twice before as a tourist, but I was ready to see how the city operated behind the scenes,” said Zack Blair, a junior majoring in political science. “I can honestly say that the Washington Seminar course completely shifted my career outlook and post-graduation plans. My desire to go to law school extended all the way back to my sophomore year of high school, but after observing policymakers in action and gaining a better understanding of the intelligence community, I have determined that a career in policy would allow me to fulfill my desire to serve and to achieve my goal of working in Washington, D.C.”

The trip isn’t all work. “A fun part of my trip came when we were given the opportunity to stand on the South Lawn of the White House to view the landing of the president's helicopter, Marine One, and to see President Bush walk to the West Wing,” said Blair.

Required writing assignments vary each year. Each class focuses on a substantive foreign affairs issue that Washington is wrestling with at the time. Students enrolling for the May 2008 trip will focus on the peace-building potential of religion. They will explore the growing body of literature that addresses this potential and examine how it might be realized.