“I would see her listening intently and underlining,” said College junior Colin Jones, describing a meeting with Representative Marcy Kaptur. Meeting a member of Congress can be a daunting task, but a group of Oberlin students from the Oberlin Peace Activist League, along with Oberlin residents, have certainly gotten Kaptur’s attention. 

The US Representative for Ohio’s ninth congressional district was so impressed that she even asked the group to help her do research on pressing issues. 

Jones, College junior Cecilia Galarraga, College sophomores Matthew Presto and Eric Wilhelm and other members of the Oberlin Peace Activist League spent last spring and summer working with Kendal resident Robert Taylor to research torture in US prisons.  They submitted a written and oral report to Kaptur in person this October.

The researchers first met Kaptur when Oberlin resident Donald Hultquist, a leading member of the Oberlin Community Peace Builders, arranged a meeting to discuss Kaptur’s views on several issues important to the group, among them torture and prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib.

“By the time they were through,” said Hulquist, who was unable to attend the meeting but has been working with the students for some time, “Marcy had tremendous respect not only for what the students knew but by their ability to convey information.” 

Kaptur said torture was a subject that definitely interested her, but she needed more information to be able to take action towards stopping or at least limiting torture in US prisons. 

 “She asked if there was any way the Oberlin group could help.  The immediate response was, absolutely yes,” Taylor wrote in a memo on the project.

Kaptur asked them to continue working with her, this time to research government contractors at overseas military bases, in particular the roles of security contractors in Iraq.

In addition, Kaptur’s office assigned staff member Matthew Kaplan, OC ’05, to work directly with the students. 

Galarraga thinks the congresswoman has found their research very useful. 

“In the research, we have listed out certain people who have been influential. She would like to bring those people to the stand and question them,” Galarraga explained. “I think this process has really helped her question and re-examine her role in the war.”

Associate Professor of Politics Eve Sandberg said the congresswoman could use the research to call attention to the situation.  “Any congressperson has the ability to help shine a light on any program overseas,” she said, also asserting that “throughout the Iraq war, [Kaptur] has been an important and informed voice.”

Kaptur’s office was unavailable to comment.

In addition to providing information to Kaptur, the project has helped showcase the ways in which the College, the town and Kendal can work together.  The students emphasized that Kendal residents, especially Taylor, were driving forces behind the project.

“They really push us,” said Wilhelm. “They keep us organized.”

Hultquist agreed. “We have a good working relationship,” he said of the joint work between OPAL and the Community Peace Builders. “Students have become a central part of our organization.”

The researchers said they hope that the relationship between Kaptur and Oberlin students will continue well into the future.  They have been working with Professor of History Steven Volk to create a permanent program through which college students could earn credit for working with Kaptur. 

Taylor asserted that such a program would provide an important foundation for continued work with the Representative.

The students also hope that the idea of doing research with Congress members will spread to other schools.

“I think it would be awesome if other schools could also do things with their members of Congress because we’ve had really good feedback,” said Galarraga. 

Taylor agreed that the students’ opportunity is unique.  “It isn’t often that anybody gets to affect the decisions of the government as much as we do,” he said, “and certainly not college students.”

“It’s empowering,” added Wilhelm. “It’s awesome to be in connection with people who you vote for and who are supposed to be representing you.”