DePauw University
IN-1: Innovation 1

The DePauw Environmental Policy Project (DEPP) is a unique program offered at DePauw University intended to provide state legislators with sound, nonpartisan research on environmental issues and students with experiential learning of the public policy process. The program has existed as a summer internship, fall course, Winter Term, and semester-long program. Background In October 2007, Forbes Magazine ranked Indiana 49th among the states in environmental quality, citing poor air and water quality, high carbon emissions, minimal incentives for renewable energy, and little political will to change. Inspired by Professor Kelsey Kauffman's success with student involvement in prison reform legislation at the Indiana General Assembly (IGA), both students and professors thought about how the same success could be had in the "49th greenest state." A group of students were selected to research environmental policy during a summer internship, enroll in a fall course on state environmental policy, and then spend Winter Term at the Legislature. For the summer of 2008, Professor Jennifer Everett and Kelsey Kauffman selected six student policy interns, two sustainability interns, and two ITAP interns to be part of the first group. Over the course of ten weeks each student became an expert on an environmental topic, its related legislation, and the Indiana legislative process. Students conducted independent research, engaged with guest speakers, and attended conferences and legislative hearings to learn about their topics. Examples of student topics included Confined Animal Feeding Operations, energy-efficient buildings, renewable energy, mass transportation, and coal. By the end of the summer, several students had testified in front of IGA summer study committees, written reports, met with legislators, and published an op-ed in the Indianapolis Star. DEPP continued as the UNIV 290 Environmental Policy course in the fall. The summer interns were joined by five additional students. The class worked to expand their knowledge of environmental policy and the legislative process. They conducted mock testimony in front of panels of faculty and administrators, critiqued each others' work, and created new reports. During the Winter Term course in January, students were able to apply seven months worth of knowledge at the statehouse. Most notably, students Michael Lutz and Taylor Cantril wanted to establish a government revolving loan fund for geothermal heat pumps in public schools. They approached State Representative Nancy Michael about their idea, and Representative Michael introduced a bill to establish the fund. Due to the extensive research and testimony by the students, the bill was signed into law on May 6, 2009. It was the only piece of pro-environmental legislative that was enacted into law during the 2009 session. At the end of Winter Term, the students were disappointed to leave the legislature and return to normal classes. Some had done research for seven months but were not able to testify before a committee before the session ended. The most dedicated of students, including Lutz and Cantril, would later have to miss classes in the spring in order to drive to the IGA and testify. The logical extension of this experience was to turn DEPP into a full semester at the legislature. The 2010 Legislative Session Six students, two of whom participated in the original group, were selected to be DEPP students with Professor Kauffman from January-May 2010. The students were required to enroll in the January Winter Term, two courses with Professor Kauffman and an additional course with an environmental lawyer, Ms. Terry Hall. For Professor Kauffman's course they all focused on doing research on the two most relevant energy and environmental bills at the IGA—green building requirements and a renewable energy policy—net metering. Additionally, they each found a niche in a major topic of the legislature, ranging from public school funding to property taxes to township government reform. While the courses were registered as three, on campus courses, the routine was anything but traditional. The DEPP model: There is great potential for students at universities to become active in government through a program like DEPP. The structure of the program and the level of government will differ based on the university's finances and student interest. For example, consider the DEPP model could be applied to a local government scenario where a town council is considering a ban on wind turbines for aesthetic reasons. Students could research the economic benefits of wind energy to a community and create a Georgraphic Information System (GIS) map showing how many wind turbines other counties have already installed. They could present the research to the town council and report on what takes place at the meeting for their blog. While DEPP may work at any level of government, it has been DePauw's experience that the students will be most effective at either the state or local government. Students will unfortunately not generally be given the opportunity to testify in Congress and will likely be less influential because of the abundance of already established think-tanks and lobbyists. The DEPP program at DePauw has been a great success and fundamental to the educational experience of many students.