HARVARD GAZETTE ARCHIVES

High Flier

Instructor travels 450 miles to teach two courses at Extension School

By Alvin Powell
Contributing Writer

Instructor Robert Charles with one of his Extension School classes. Photo by Tony Loreti.

It's a long haul from Washington, D.C., but Robert Charles arrives at Sever Hall each Monday evening ready to teach two Extension School classes.

By the next morning, he's back at his job as chief of staff and chief counsel for the U.S. House's Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice.

No problem.

"I keep thinking, 'How can he do this?' " said Mary Higgins, assistant dean for the Division of Continuing Education. "It's amazing to me."

Charles teaches Congressional Oversight of the White House and Executive Branch at 5:30 p.m., and then he teaches Cyberlaw and Society at 7:35 p.m.

Charles acknowledges that his commute - by plane or train - eats up much of his Monday afternoon, but says the people he works with don't mind because they recognize that education is an important priority.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin was a guest speaker in Charles' Congressional Oversight class.

Despite the commute, Charles enjoys teaching and said he's trying to make his students understand that Congress is interested in more than just the latest scandal.

"There's a gap in the public knowledge about what's going on," Charles said.

Charles is among many working professionals who are teaching Extension School classes, Higgins said, and brings with him an intimate knowledge of current issues in his field.

With a field like the U.S. government, Charles provides students with an insider's point of view on issues often taken from the day's headlines.

The first Congressional Oversight class, for example, took place just days after Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr released his report on allegations surrounding President Clinton's relationship with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

The Oversight class is examining more than just scandal and impeachment proceedings, however. Students are getting a close look at everything from NASA to the standoff with Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, to national drug policy.

Cyberlaw students are getting a closeup view of a topic that is evolving even as the term wears on. The class is examining issues such as encryption, privacy, national security, and First Amendment concerns brought up by computerization and the World Wide Web.

"I would think that [the current topics] make the class unusually interesting. It certainly makes it interesting to teach," Charles said. "I have lesson plans, but they often have to be revised at the last minute."

Charles doesn't always come to class alone. He has brought several speakers who have an even deeper involvement in some of the courses' subjects than he does. Among those who've come to Sever 102 are former Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, who spoke to the Congressional Oversight class, and Barry Smith, the head of the FBI's encryption section, who spoke to the Cyberlaw class.

"I think some people are willing to give up their time and talk because they have a very serious-minded audience," Charles said. "I find these are really engaged students."

Among possible future speakers is a representative of Microsoft Corp., the software giant being sued by the U.S. Justice Department for alleged anti-trust violations, and John Dean, the Nixon White House counsel whose testimony implicated President Richard Nixon in the coverup of the Watergate break-in.

"I think [having outside speakers] increases class participation," Charles said. "I personally think you should do everything you can to make a class exciting."

Having worked in Washington for many years, Charles knows some of the speakers - like Buzz Aldrin - personally, and knows people who know the others.

Charles had extensive Washington experience even before becoming chief of staff and chief counsel for the House subcommittee in 1995. He was deputy associate director for the Bush White House's Office of Policy Development from May 1992 until January 1993. He also worked as a law clerk at the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals and in the Immediate Office of the Secretary in the U.S. Treasury Department.

In between his government jobs, Charles, who has a law degree from Columbia University, worked in private practice in New York and Washington, D.C. Charles also has a master's degree in philosophy, politics, and economics from Oxford University.

Reviews of his classes indicate Charles has kept students' attention so far. Extension School undergraduate advisers have heard good reports from students, Higgins said. And the students themselves say the courses keep them engaged.

"I'm interested in the topics," said Puneet Bhalla, who said he's looking forward to a discussion on finance and banking issues.

Another student, Adrienne Hargrove, likes the classes enough to try to match Charles' commute. Hargrove flies in from Chicago each Monday for the Cyberlaw class.

"I fly in for the class. I work all day," Hargrove said. "It's a long, long day for me."

Hargrove works as a manager at Ameritech in Illinois and also attends Northwestern University's Extension School. She is considering attending law school and said she saw a description of the Cyberlaw class on the Internet and thought it might give her a taste of law school.

"This is a perfect opportunity to take a law-type class," she said. "The fact that he works so closely with the Senate and House and is right there - it adds something to the class."