By Cristy Lytal
When it comes to global issues, few are as challenging as refugee and migration policy. At the inaugural USC Global Policy Case Challenge, more than 30 USC graduate students put their heads together to tackle the topic of the European Union migration policy – which may affect millions of displaced refugees – and its implications for the United States.
The event was hosted by the Price School of Public Policy’s Graduate Policy and Administration Community (GPAC) student association and the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute (TRPI).
The idea behind the competition came from USC Price Master of Public Policy student Sarah L.T. Lee. “I wanted to see more opportunities at the school for students to think critically about global policy issues — and what’s really near and dear to my heart is the refugee issue,” she said. Lee hopes that the Global Policy Case Challenge will continue to help students gain greater insight into the decisions facing global policymakers today, and perhaps motivate students to pursue careers in international policy in the future.
The refugee crisis provided an ideal case problem, according to Lee’s mentor, Roberto Suro, director of TRPI and professor at USC Price and USC Annenberg.
“It was great to have students working on an international problem that made them think about how various countries interrelate, and to pick a really difficult, intractable issue to have them work on,” Suro said.
GPAC lent their resources and support as part of a push to expand their internationally-focused initiatives. “USC Price has a lot of international students and people interested in international issues,” said MPP student Anja Gullerfelt, president of GPAC. “This is a great opportunity for students to share different perspectives on the refugee crisis.”
All of the case challenge participants were asked to submit a three-page written brief about the lessons learned from how the EU has been handling the Syrian refugee crisis. Ten teams registered for the challenge, and eventually seven teams were picked to advance to the next round, which included a presentation of their findings and recommendations before a panel of judges.
The second round was held at USC Price in April.
Joining Suro on the judges panel were: James Featherstone, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Homeland Security Advisory Council; Juan Gobel, assistant director of international affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office; Joanna Kabat, senior program manager at the Liberty Hill Foundation; Nicholas Perry, policy analyst and outreach coordinator at the WORLD Policy Analysis Center; and Pamela Starr, associate professor of international relations at the USC Dornsife College.
While the judges deliberated, the audience watched a screening of the documentary, “The Captain’s Story,” filmed by Chase Millsap, Price MPP student and Iraq War veteran. The film told the story of an Iraqi captain who saved Millsap’s life on the battlefield, and who later became a refugee.
“What I’ve come to realize and come to appreciate is that refugee stories aren’t necessarily just mass movements,” Millsap said. “They’re really human stories.”
At the end of the evening, Suro made a surprise announcement that there were the winners: teams 4 and 5. Each team received a winning prize of $1,000.
Andrew Lamotte from Team 4 noted how the event provided a unique way to meet and interact with students from other programs. “There are so many different people who concentrate on different specializations — I got a good breadth of knowledge just from seeing a policy from a different point of view that I would never probably have conceived of by myself,” he said.
Suro concluded the evening with a heartfelt thanks to all of the students who participated in the USC Global Policy Case Challenge.
“To all the students I’ve worked with this year, it’s been a joy,” he said. “Thank you all so much for what you do. And as I always tell my students, I do this because it just makes me hopeful. I’m optimistic when I’m with all of you.”