The publication is reproduced in full below:
SUPPORTING UCLA'S QUARTER IN WASHINGTON PROGRAM
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Barragan) for 5 minutes.
Ms. BARRAGAN. Mr. Speaker, as a young college student, I remember coming to Washington, D.C., to work at the White House.
I was so inspired that, in 1999, I returned to D.C. through UCLA's Quarter in Washington Program. It was known as the CAPPP program, which stands for the Center of American Politics and Public Policy.
This time, my internship experience was very different. The UCLA's CAPPP program offered something unique, setting it apart from most programs that focus only on internships. It had a required research seminar that introduced me to serious original social research and writing. There is no doubt that this program honed my skill set and challenged me with a major research project.
At UCLA, the classes were so big that I did not have a similar opportunity on campus. The program engaged and encouraged me to seriously explore policy questions of interest to me in a disciplined way.
In fact, my research was on the issue of racial disparities in public health, a top priority of mine in Congress today.
The rewards I derived from UCLA's CAPPP Quarter in Washington program have been shared by many others who have benefited. I have learned that since my time in the program, CAPPP has brought ever more diverse cohorts of students, especially women and students of color. CAPPP demonstrated that top universities like UCLA can be competitive, excellent, and diverse at the same time.
Every May, UCLA hosts Undergraduate Research Week in its famed Pauley Pavilion. Over the past several years, CAPPP Quarter in Washington students have distinguished themselves, winning awards such as Dean's Prizes and UCLA's coveted Library Prize.
The recent director, a former UCLA professor of mine, Professor James Desveaux, said that more students from this program--2,500 miles from Westwood--have participated in UCLA's Undergraduate Research Conference than from any other program or department in the social sciences or humanities.
After graduation, CAPPP's alumni have gone on to remarkable accomplishments. Just a few examples of CAPPP alumni:
The top applicant to Yale Law School in 2018, now an editor at the Yale Law Journal.
The daughter of Nigerian immigrants who grew up in low-income housing in Los Angeles was an English major at UCLA with zero training in the social sciences until the CAPPP program in Washington. Because of her research in Washington, she gained admission to the prestigious Ph.D. program at Harvard's Chan School of Public Health in 2020.
Zachary Baron, oversight counsel for the House Committee on Ways and Means in this very Chamber.
Addar Levi, the Deputy General Counsel for the U.S. Treasury Department.
The former deputy city attorney for San Francisco.
And the list goes on and on.
This program taught us critical thinking and research skills that have transformed our lives and set us up to make a real difference in the world.
As an alumna, I join the UCLA CAPPP alumni group on Facebook. A few weeks ago, as I was reading my news feed, I got some stunning news: UCLA's CAPPP program has been dismantled.
I read the former director's farewell letter. The decision had nothing to do with COVID or funding shortages. The decision was made by a handful of administrators who believe that having a research requirement as part of UCLA's internship program in Washington is unnecessary. Students can do research on the campus, they insisted.
For 31 years, UCLA's CAPPP program demonstrated success. There was always high demand from its students wanting to engage in research while interning in Washington. Why deny them this opportunity? After all, aren't research universities supposed to be about teaching and research?
As a product of UCLA's CAPPP program, I know its value firsthand. I believe the skills I learned and the research I conducted had a role in getting me where I am today.
It truly saddens me to learn the program is coming to an end. This seems contrary to the mission of the number one public research university. I hope that UCLA will reconsider and give students the opportunity to grow from this unique undergraduate opportunity.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 131
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