Although people enter graduate school at many stages of life, for some students, it can be the first time that they live in one place long enough to call it home. Part of the process of creating a home may involve figuring out your favorite grocery store or biking route, but it can also involve wrestling with the culture, politics, and idiosyncrasies of your new home. 

Whether you attend school in a village, town, or city, becoming involved in local government can be a way to learn more about and form a connection with your community as well as address problems that you may identify within it. From the outside, local government may feel monolithic, but there are many ways to become involved and affect change in your new community.

In the United States, “local government” is the colloquial term for municipal government, which is defined as the city, town, or borough government and “generally take[s] responsibility for parks and recreation services, police and fire departments, housing services, emergency medical services, municipal courts, transportation services (including public transportation), and public works (streets, sewers, snow removal, signage, and so forth)” (State and Local Government, n.d.). Local government structure varies widely from locale to locale. For instance, Falmouth, MA, where WHOI is located, has a Town Manager and a Select Board as elected officials, as well as a larger elected body called Town Meeting which convenes a couple times a year to approve the budget and some other measures. Cambridge, MA, where MIT is located, has an elected city council who appoint a city manager. The linked city websites provide information about the services the city provides, as well as information about the elected officials, non-elected officials, and departments. 

As part of this article, Through the Porthole interviewed Charlotte Wiman, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Marine & Environmental Sciences at Northeastern University. Charlotte is a resident of Somerville, MA, a suburb city of Boston, where many local graduate students live. In 2020, she became interested in Somerville’s public safety budget allocations, igniting her involvement in local politics. While attending a local city counselor's office hours over Zoom, she connected with a local civic group, and used this as an avenue to further her involvement. 

Young adults can often feel peripheral to the community for a variety of reasons - perhaps they haven’t lived there very long, or they are not sure how long they will stay. Maybe they come from a background not well-represented within their new community. These kinds of reasons can often make it feel like the problems graduate students worry about aren’t important to local government. However, Charlotte argued that “it’s so important to have the perspective of whatever life stage you’re at [in local politics] even if you’re living there temporarily, and especially in cities like Somerville, which have a large renter and student population.” 

The first step to involvement is usually becoming more familiar with the issues. In cities like Somerville, many city councilors will run neighborhood meetings to inform their constituents about relevant legislation, ask for feedback, and answer any questions. In small towns like Falmouth, these types of sessions may not be as readily available, but it can be much easier to learn about issues from local news sources. In many communities, discourse from social media can also complement information gleaned from local news sources. 

After becoming familiar with local issues, there are a plethora of ways to actively participate in government. In the past, students in Falmouth have formed groups to assess issues that they are concerned about, conduct research, and propose solutions to the local government. City council meetings are open to the public, and often have opportunities for public comment. Special interest groups, like the one Charlotte joined, will often organize unified action, which can lessen the intimidation factor of actions like speaking at a public meeting. Charlotte mentioned groups such as the Somerville Alliance for Safer Streets and the Community Action Agency of Somerville as examples of these types of special interest groups. Finally, many issues in a city that are outside of the range of the full city council may be addressed by a committee, and oftentimes, these committees are actively looking for members. 

And, although many graduate students are not US residents, this does not prevent them from participating in most aspects of local government. Any community member, including non-US residents, can offer public comment, share their opinions with their local representative, and may be able to join committees. 

Community is an inescapable part of life, and it can inspire joy or frustration. Becoming involved in local politics is an excellent way to reshape your community in ways that may benefit you, your peers, and those who will follow you. So start with something simple, like emailing your city or town councilor stating your priorities, and see if you can evolve it. Bring your friends to town meetings, and discuss it afterwards. Learn more about the machinery behind your community, and think critically about how it could be improved. See what local movements exist, and lend your skills and efforts to whatever cause resonates with you. 

Issues that your community faces can sometimes feel impossibly small and specific when you think of them in the wider context of global problems. However, local issues are often expressions of global issues, and, unlike global issues, we have much more power to affect them. So, take a moment, consider your new home critically, and move forth with the knowledge that your perspective could change it for the better, for you and your peers. 

 

References

State and Local Government. (n.d.). The White House. Retrieved July 8, 2022, from https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/our-government/state-local-government/