Fellowship Program Overview

LONGVIEW FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM FOR PUBLIC INTELLECTUALS

Conservative think tanks over the past thirty years have identified and trained a new generation of right-wing intellectuals whose writings have exerted a profound influence on public debate. This effort, which has involved the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars, has succeeded in connecting young conservative intellectuals with their older counterparts and with a wide array of conservative organizations. In the words of David Callahan, author of a major study of conservative think tanks, this investment has yielded "a large class of professional conservative policy intellectuals and marketers that is not found elsewhere on the political spectrum." The absence of young progressive counterparts to Dinesh D'Souza, David Frum, and Laura Ingraham, all of whom were sponsored by a network of conservative think thanks, eloquently confirms Callahan's point. So, too, do the influential writings of older conservative intellectuals such as Charles Murray, Thomas Sowell, Linda Chavez and Abigail Thernstrom, all of whose careers -- and messages -- have been generously supported by right-wing think tanks.

The goal of the Longview Fellowship Program for Public Intellectuals is to help rectify this imbalance by nurturing the next generation of progressive journalists and intellectuals. The Program will give Fellows opportunities to do more sustained writing than the conditions under which they work normally permit, to develop skills in framing and communication, and to gain greater exposure via publication, public speaking, and appearances on television that will enhance their effectiveness as public intellectuals. A bridge between the world of research and the world of journalism, the Fellowship Program should serve to connect promising young journalists to the resources of the university and to connect scholars to major print and electronic media.

An integral part of the Fellowship Program will be a weekly seminar in which the Fellows and the Longview Senior Scholars meet to present their work and share ideas. The seminar will invite outside speakers from the worlds of journalism, politics, academe, and public policy to meet with the Fellows and with other members of the Longview community. In addition, the Fellows will attend an retreat with the Senior Scholars and invited guests from the larger Longview network. These retreats will be designed to facilitate in-depth intergenerational dialogue and to strengthen ties between the Fellows, the Senior Scholars, and the participants from the realms of activism, public policy, and the media.

In selecting the Fellows, Longview will cast a wide net to attract a diverse and vibrant group of award winners. In addition to publicizing the existence of the Fellowship program, which will be open to anyone who wishes to apply, Longview will also draw upon the expertise of a panel of nominators likely to be in contact with promising young writers, thinkers, and policy analysts and able to facilitate publication of their work.

In choosing the Fellows, Longview will look for evidence of originality, a clear and graceful writing style, and intellectual depth and breadth. Each applicant will be required to describe the writing that she/he propose to do at Longview and will submit samples of written work. In evaluating applicants, we will look with particular favor upon those candidates whose work promises to re-frame existing debates or to place new issues in the public agenda. Areas of particular interest to Longview include, but are not limited to: globalization and foreign policy, inequality, the environment, family and gender, education, public health, and the development of policies and programs that will facilitate the formation of alliances among the disparate groups that make up American liberalism and progressivism. Fellows whose work promises to contribute to the larger Longview project of elaborating the moral and ethical foundations of progressive politics will receive special consideration.

The Longview Fellowship Program for Public Intellectuals intends to expand the parameters of public debate on major political issues and help develop a new generation of recognized progressive experts and commentators. In its first year of operation, Longview plans to award five fellowships, with ten projected for the Program's second year. The Fellowship Program is an integral part of Longview's larger agenda of reframing public debate to make a progressive moral vision more persuasive and influential, and of developing public policies that bring us closer to a society that embodies that vision. By cultivating the development of public intellectuals and by linking them to networks of progressive scholars and activists, the Fellowship Program will strengthen the progressive voice in American politics and help generate the new ideas essential to a revitalized progressive movement.