My Davidson | A Student Blog Research on Populist Presidents Pairs Student With Prof for DRI Project
October 16, 2024
Intended political science major Cameron Unice ’27 reflects on her summer research with Dr. Bersch examining and comparing how populist presidents exert control over administrative states, including a case study on former President Trump and the Environmental Protection Agency.
About the Author
Cameron Unice ’27 (she/her) is an intended political science major from Richmond, Virginia. On campus, she pole vaults for the Women’s Track & Field Team, writes for The Davidsonian, and is a member of Warner Hall Eating House.
“I chose Davidson because of the high academic standards, the small class sizes and the warm, welcoming atmosphere created by every student and teacher I met!”
My first day of class of my first semester at Davidson, I met Dr. Katherine Bersch in a comparative politics course. I immediately liked her vibe, and she mentioned how she could use some research assistants later in the year. I vividly remember texting my mom about how I wanted to be her assistant… and one semester later, when I ended up in Dr. Bersch’s “Comparative Public Policy” course, she reached out to me and asked if I would be interested in helping her with a project she was working on. She remembered that I had done an individual project focused around deliberative democracy mechanisms, and the research she was conducting centered around similar themes, but in Brazil.
I said yes, and for the next semester, Dr. Bersch and I worked together and I saw her every day as I took both “Comparative Public Policy” and “Intro to Research Methods.” I realized while reading through literature on regulation, bureaucracy, and participation in government that I felt more curious than after the typical assigned readings and felt like the subject matter was somewhat underdeveloped, especially given how much regulation impacts our daily life (around 90% of U.S. laws are rules created by federal agencies, fun fact)!
Dr. Bersch encouraged me to apply for the Davidson Research Initiative, Davidson’s research program that connects professors with students for summer projects. Dr. Bersch told me that she was in the process of writing a book that examines presidential control over the administrative state from a comparative perspective, specifically looking at populist presidents in both Brazil and the United States. She asked if I would want to help her with the U.S. chapter that examines the Environmental Protection Agency under former President Trump. It was a bit of a shot in the dark, as we wrote the application the day that it was due, and I didn’t really have a good idea of what the DRI would even entail. However, Dr. Bersch helped me with the application, and we managed to get it in before the deadline. A few weeks later, we were notified that we were awarded the fellowship!
We wrapped up the semester and started to plan out our summer. The research fellowship entailed that I spend five weeks in person with Dr. Bersch and five weeks working remotely. We set a calendar: I would spend one extra week in Davidson, go home for three, and then spend four weeks in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Bersch was co-directing the Davidson in Washington program. Additionally, I would attend a conference at the University of Pennsylvania, “Regulation in a Changing World,” in June.
Attending the “Regulation in a Changing World" conference at the University of Pennsylvania
Fast forward to D.C.: I stayed in a George Washington University dorm in the Foggy Bottom area of the city, right next to the General Services Administration headquarters and Washington Passport Agency. I didn’t work out of an office, so every day, I would make a goal of finding a new coffee shop to work in, as most of what I did was remote. I would take the metro to a new location, hope and pray I could find an outlet, and sit down for a few hours. Then, I would go through Outlook, LinkedIn, and my Google Calendar, and come up with a plan for the next few hours. Typically, I would have one interview in the day, where I had a document with some broad themes that I could shape my questions around based off of the interviewee’s background.
During Davidson in Washington, our cohort had the chance to meet and hear from Paul Clement, a lawyer and former U.S. Solicitor General who is known for his work arguing many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
One of my favorite interviews was with Marcus Peacock, who served as the Deputy Administrator (the number two position) of the EPA in 2008. I especially liked chatting with him because of his background prior to the EPA; he served as the Associate Director of the Natural Resource Programs in the Office of Management and Budget from 2001-2004. In other words, he possessed political knowledge (he served as a presidential appointee as opposed to a career employee) and looked at the EPA with a strong managerial background. He was so enthusiastic in our interview, answered my questions in full, and offered me a different insight into the inner workings of the agency – for example, he explained to me how one of his main roles was to filter only necessary regulation to the Administrator for his approval.
This whole process has been a huge learning opportunity for me, and I’ve seen growth in both my personal and professional life. I’ve gained skills that I wouldn’t get from a typical internship, like learning how to schedule my time when there are no day-to-day goals or manager to report to. Dr. Bersch treated me like a true co-author, meaning that while she obviously offered guidance, I had to offer my own ideas and thoughts as opposed to just helping when I was needed. I’ve learned more people skills this summer than I did in the past few years; knowing how to conduct an interview, how to network at events with scholars and high level government employees, and how to, in no better words, fake it till I make it! There were a lot of moments where I felt under qualified and out of place, and at first, it was really uncomfortable to push myself out of my comfort zone. However, Dr. Bersch always told me the same thing: act like I’m a published graduate student, and nobody will know the difference. I began to trust myself, make decisions confidently, and walk into interviews with excitement to learn, instead of anxiety to get it right.
Another tidbit I’ve taken from this summer is to reach out to individuals who may seem very busy, unreachable, or too advanced to talk to an undergraduate. Nearly every single EPA employee I reached out to was willing to Zoom with me, or at the very least, exchange a few emails, no matter their status. And they never seemed bothered – they were glad, nearly excited, to talk about their work in the federal government. In a time of high political partisanship and contention, I felt extremely encouraged by the passion that federal employees demonstrated for their work and for how willing they were to compromise and come up with solutions to better the regulations they were publishing.
The 10 week fellowship ended at the beginning of August, but Dr. Bersch and I are still working together to wrap up our research with an article. At the beginning of the summer, we submitted an abstract to the “Structure of Governance Workshop Conference” held in Münster, Germany, this October (again, a bit of a shot in the dark) which was accepted. We will be presenting a draft of our paper, “Deep State versus Deliberative State: The Case of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency” in just a few months! As we dive into writing a research paper, I am excited to see what else I can learn from Dr. Bersch and other public administration scholars.
Scenes from My Summer in Washington, D.C.
