High-ranking Department of Defense military and civilian leaders will be walking among students, faculty and staff this semester as part of a new joint venture between GW and the U.S. Government.
The DoD recently granted the Elliott School a contract to direct the Pentagon's National Security Studies program starting in January. But similar programs at other universities around the country have been met with student opposition.
In this five-year multi-million dollar contract, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program will join with the Elliott School to offer a series of four-week, two-week and three-day courses for high ranking government officials.
"It is gratifying to know that the Elliott School is helping to educate military and civilian leaders and contributing to U.S. national security," said Michael Brown, the dean of the Elliott School, in a press release.
The classes offered include a defense policy seminar, an executive course on national and international security, and a senior manager course in national security, and most of the classes will be held on campus.
The program was first offered by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and then, starting in 1996, by Syracuse's Maxwell School, partnered with Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.
The program has been met with some opposition in these universities. According to the Daily Orange, the student newspaper at Syracuse, in 2004 the Student Environmental Action Coalition spent a year campaigning against the program through teach-ins and outdoor protests on campus. The Harvard Crimson reported that in 1991 anti-war activists held a sit-in the offices of the National Security Program at the Kennedy School of Government.
Joanna Spear, director of GW's Security Policy Studies Program and director of the new National Security Studies Program, said in an e-mail that more than the money, she valued the prestige associated with winning such a contract.
The DoD recently granted the Elliott School a contract to direct the Pentagon's National Security Studies program starting in January. But similar programs at other universities around the country have been met with student opposition.
In this five-year multi-million dollar contract, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Security Studies Program will join with the Elliott School to offer a series of four-week, two-week and three-day courses for high ranking government officials.
"It is gratifying to know that the Elliott School is helping to educate military and civilian leaders and contributing to U.S. national security," said Michael Brown, the dean of the Elliott School, in a press release.
The classes offered include a defense policy seminar, an executive course on national and international security, and a senior manager course in national security, and most of the classes will be held on campus.
The program was first offered by Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and then, starting in 1996, by Syracuse's Maxwell School, partnered with Johns Hopkins' School of Advanced International Studies.
The program has been met with some opposition in these universities. According to the Daily Orange, the student newspaper at Syracuse, in 2004 the Student Environmental Action Coalition spent a year campaigning against the program through teach-ins and outdoor protests on campus. The Harvard Crimson reported that in 1991 anti-war activists held a sit-in the offices of the National Security Program at the Kennedy School of Government.
Joanna Spear, director of GW's Security Policy Studies Program and director of the new National Security Studies Program, said in an e-mail that more than the money, she valued the prestige associated with winning such a contract.
