Manhattan Institute, New York, NY
This summer I worked as a General Program intern at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a conservative think tank located next door to Grand Central Terminal in the heart of Midtown Manhattan. During the course of my ten-week internship, I had the opportunity to do original research in the field of mental health care. I also got to work with a number of Fellows at the Institute, as well as eight other interns from universities, colleges, and graduate schools across the country. I attended all of the Institute’s evening events and heard several fascinating speakers including Jordan Peterson, author of Twelve Rules For Life, and Ken Langone, cofounder of Home Depot and billionaire philanthropist. In addition, I experienced first-hand what it means to be a commuter—catching the 7:20 bus each morning, getting stuck in rush-hour traffic on a daily basis, and racing crosstown to be at my desk by 9 a.m.
I worked under Carolyn Gorman, the Manhattan Institute’s Project Manager of Education and Mental Illness Policy. I assisted her in the development of policies designed to reduce the number of people with serious mental illnesses in New York City’s prisons and on the City’s streets. Each day I compiled and provided her with a comprehensive “Daily Check List” that included everything from news articles on mental illness policy to legislative activity addressing health care and criminal justice reform. I also sat in on a number of Ms. Gorman’s conference calls with health care professionals, taking notes during the calls which we would then discuss afterwards. Among other topics, these conversations addressed such issues as inpatient and outpatient care and the role of the Medicaid IMD Exclusion in mental health funding.
Each day I also had time to do original research of my own. Over the course of several weeks, I crafted an in-depth analysis of Dr. Stephen J. Morse’s publication on the role of mental disorder in the criminal justice system. After summarizing Dr. Morse’s basic points and policy recommendations, I provided my own analysis, drawing upon knowledge I had gained while working at the Manhattan Institute, legal norms in trial processes, and constitutional law when applicable. My memo addressed a number of issues, including the ability of mentally ill defendants to serve as their own counsel after being declared competent to stand trial, the processes used to determine whether or not a patient held involuntarily in a psychiatric facility is fit to be released, and the constitutional grounds for the administration of psychotropic medication to inmates before an execution. I also aided Ms. Gorman by compiling and analyzing New York State’s yearly health care budget, the specific resources allotted to mental illness health care over the past decade, and the de Blasio Administration’s ThriveNYC program intended to support the mental health of New Yorkers.
Throughout the summer, Ms. Gorman connected me with influential people at the Manhattan Institute. She put me in contact with Paul Beston, the Managing Editor of City Journal, a quarterly magazine published by the Manhattan Institute that features articles ranging from public policy proposals to cultural critiques. I helped Mr. Beston catalog issues of City Journal dating back to 1991. I also reshelved the issues in chronological order. While this particular task ultimately involved more brawn than brains, it gave me the opportunity to better know Mr. Beston and to bring order to a collection that sorely needed it.
Later in the summer I was asked by Stephen Eide, a Senior Fellow at the Institute and a Contributing Editor to City Journal, to help him prepare a series of articles about psychiatric facilities in Florida’s Miami-Dade County. Mr. Eide entrusted me to transcribe and annotate numerous conference calls involving mental health care professionals. These conversations pertained to such issues as transitional care following involuntary commitment, crisis intervention programs used by the Miami-Dade Police Department to curb death and injury of the mentally ill in their interactions with law enforcement officials, and inpatient and outpatient programs for the seriously mentally ill. This task called for the creation of exact, verbatim transcriptions of each conversation involving multiple participants.
As was often the case at the Manhattan Institute, one opportunity led to the next. After wrapping up a number of projects for City Journal, I was able to get involved with their weekly “Ten Blocks” podcast. Aaron Ricks, the Institute’s Online Content Editor, taught me recording techniques, while Mr. Beston coached me on the art of interviewing. I got to sit in on an in-studio conversation between Paul Beston and Matthew Hennessey, an editor at the Wall Street Journal, about Mr. Hennessey’s new book, Zero Hour for Generation X, which addresses the increasingly prevalent role technology plays in the lives of America’s youth.
Ms. Gorman arranged for me to meet other Fellows at the Manhattan Institute on an almost weekly basis. One week it was James Copland, the director of Legal Policy at the Institute, who shared with me his opinions on constitutional interpretation and stare decisis (the following of legal precedent in jurisprudence) and the next week it was Troy Senik, the Institute’s Vice President of Policy and Programs, who told me about his experiences as a speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
Another highlight of my summer at the Manhattan Institute was the intern debate at the end of July. The interns—ranging from rising college sophomores (like me) to graduate students in law school—were divided into four teams to debate one of two issues, Universal Basic Income (UBI) or the legalization of all drugs. I was assigned to the “con” side of the drug debate. With help from Dean Ball, the Deputy Director of State and Local Policy who organized weekly meetings and refined our arguments, we crafted a persuasive defense for the criminalization of drugs. While my fellow debate partners handled general philosophical arguments and a focus on hard drugs, I concentrated on arguments against the legalization of recreational marijuana. In the final debate, held at the Harvard Club and moderated by Howard Husock, the Vice President for Research and Publications, I used Colorado as a case study for the dangers of legalizing recreational marijuana nationwide, focusing in part on the marked increase in the number of traffic fatalities involving compromised drivers.
This summer provided me with my first real exposure to the world of ideas outside the classroom and campus. My colleagues at the Manhattan Institute gave me ample opportunity to use my research and writing skills, while at the same time I experienced firsthand the importance of being a useful, contributing member of a team. My job was to help others do their jobs, and in so doing, I learned much about how a think tank really works.
I sincerely thank the Williams ’68 Center for Career Exploration and the generous support of Dr. James D. Marver ’72 for making my internship at the Manhattan Institute possible.