Organization educates students about U.S. Congress

When Lee Hamilton (D-Bloomington) retired from the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999, he felt like people did not know very much about what he and other congressmen did in Congress. \nAs he made his way into retirement, concluding a tenure that lasted from 1965 to January of 1999, Hamilton decided he would inform the public and IU students about what Congress actually did. So he, along with then-IU President Myles Brand, created the Center on Congress in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.\nThe center focuses on teaching students and the public how Congress operates, from the beginning of a morning session, to committee meetings, and to adjournment at the end of the day. The center embodies the goals in its mission statement: "The Center is nonpartisan and its goal is purely educational -- to explain the work and role of Congress. Information on Congress is presented in a variety of ways, including newspaper op-eds, radio commentaries, Web site articles and brochures, teaching materials, conferences, books, television spots and videos and interactive learning programs for students."\nBesides those publications, the center sends daily briefings about what has happened in Congress, as well as information about programs they offer to organizations such as the Indiana Daily Student.\nProfessor of political science and Director of Research at the Center on Congress Ted Carmines believes it is the role of the center to help the public better understand what Congress does.\n"The center tries to give people a lot of information on what it does. How it interacts with the president, etc.," Carmines said. "It tries to be an educational resource so people can research what Congress does and why it does what it does."\nOne of the center's goals is to research what people actually do know about Congress, as well as people's opinions about how congress is doing. \n"One of the things I do as director of research is to conduct large nationwide surveys on what people know about Congress and their feelings of Congress," Carmines said. "We are hoping to institute a permanent monitoring of Congress conducted one to two times per year."\nAn advisory board helps direct the way the center is run and finds new information to help the public better understand Congress.\nMost of the people on the center's board of directors live in Washington, D.C., giving them direct contact with members of Congress and the ability to relay new feedback and information to the center fairly quickly, including up-to-date statistics and resources. \nThe center's Web site outlines not only the basics of what Congress does but also how citizens can participate and get involved with writing and voting on laws. \nTo learn more about the Center on Congress and to participate in your government, visit