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Running to Win
At Yale's Women's Campaign School, Election Day is Valentine's Day
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Business New Haven
3/4/2002
By:
BNH
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Former Ansonia mayor Nancy Valentine is executive director of the Women's Campaign School (WCS) at Yale, which teaches females (and the occasional male) political skills, strategies and tactics to run winning campaigns. A non-profit, non-partisan corporation, WCS is jointly sponsored by the Yale Law School and Yale Women's Studies.
Can you give us a brief history of the Women's Campaign School?
The school was founded in 1993 by a woman from Westport named Andree Aelion Brooks. She gathered with some political women from the area and started talking about why we don't have more women elected to public office and also comparing the U.S. to foreign countries. There's no mandate on the ballot for minority representation being female.
So she took her mission to Yale University and [after] about a year to get this process understood and clarified, Yale [permitted us to] use their name for the Women's Campaign School. Our mission would be to prepare women for public office or campaign management and to have them learn contemporary political skills and how to run a decent campaign.
Did it require a lot of money to start this?
No, the school was founded on no funds; it was basically just the women putting in the dollars to get it organized, then the [inauguration] was a one-week program. That is what the school was founded to do, to be a one-week, comprehensive training program each year. We have now spun off into doing a series of one-day programs in addition.
How is the affiliation with Yale organized, and what Yale entity are you affiliated with?
We are under the law school women's studies program. We use their name, and their contribution is use of their facilities and a small budget to assist with some of our mailings. We operate on a budget of just over $100,000 a year.
Are there other programs like
this around the country that served
as a model?
There are other women's organizations and training programs, but most of them have some sort of a litmus test: You either have to be a party-affiliated person or you're pro-choice or pro-life, for example. To our knowledge we're the only one in the country that is non-profit, non-partisan and non-issue-based. We include women from the entire spectrum of political interests.
Do prospective students find you or do you find them?
Because our budgets are small, word of mouth has been our best advertiser. E-mail has also helped us tremendously. Our Web site [wcsyale.org] has just been revamped again and people do find us and ask to be added to our e-mail list.
How many women passed through the program last year?
Historically classes for the summer are limited to 50 students. We do try to limit it to 50 because we feel that these women learn as much from our classroom and faculty training as they can from networking and mentoring from each other. Women have come to us from 35 of the 50 states and 121 countries.
What is the cost for the
one-week program?
Tuition for the program is $750. That includes classroom training, training materials and all meals during your stay with us. We're also always out there scouting for scholarship assistance to help some of those in need. We don't make a lot of money on this.
Are most of your students first-time candidates as opposed to those who have been through
campaigns before?
Yes. We do see a share of elected officials who come back for refreshers in fundraising and speechwriting. We do see first-timers, or folks who are asking 'Is this something for me?' or making the decision to run. We also see a lot of students who come saying they're never going to be a candidate, but they really want to know the workings of a campaign, or they want to be on the management team or they're pursuing avenues of interest in other political arenas such as consulting or lobbying.
Who teaches the courses?
We have a core faculty and we invite elected officials to join us so students can really hear first-hand what the inner workings are. We want the latest, the greatest, the most up-to-date.
What is your electoral track record look like?
So far we've had about 360 women go through our doors in eight years. About 33 percent have run for office and about 25 have gotten themselves elected to different levels from [municipal] board of education seat to a state representative. [Politics] is a wonderful career choice for women. We are making inroads. Sometimes we think [progress] is a little slow, but things are happening.
How did you get involved?
In 1996, during my ten years as mayor [of Ansonia], I was approached by a woman who was a board member in Hartford who'd been reading about me in the paper and she thought I'd make a great candidate for a board member. So they got me involved and interested in what the board was doing. In 1999 we had an executive director for just one year and she was leaving to work outside of her home, so I said I might be interested [in the staff job]. I was running for my third term and - fortunately or unfortunately - I did lose the election. I think it was fortunately, now that I look back. I just love every minute of what I do. It's wonderful to hear what the women are doing and what the women are exploring and if [politics] is for them.
Is the board deliberately split along partisan lines?
Yes, we do take that very seriously and try to keep a balance. We [also] have several unaffiliated board directors.
What do gender differences mean
to American voters today?
I agree that we are becoming more entrusting to lend women our support. The big drawback is that women have trouble asking for money if they've never done this. So that's a major part of our training. We have to get them to ask for money because you can't run any races today without big dollars. That too, is a drawback for women - the amount of money that is needed to win. [So] it's a matter of continually encouraging women to run. When women run, women do win. We have the same opportunities the men have. It's just a matter of getting them out there in the forefront.
What if a man wanted to
attend the WCS?
We do not discriminate. We do see men. I had one gentleman who attended last year's full-week program and I have one signed up from New York City already for this year. I get phone calls asking where the Men's Campaign School is, and I tell them they've come to the right place. So our door is open to gents as well.
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