Posted on Aug 1, 1999

In 1995, David S. Kaplan '82 was shot and killed near his Arlington, Va., apartment. The Congressional Quarterly, where David worked, a number of its employees, and members of David's family created an endowment fund, with income used to support the College's annual Term in Washington.

Commencement Weekend this year saw a gathering of several individuals involved in the Washington term — Phil Duncan, an editor of Congressional Quarterly; four Washington interns (Suzanne Dougherty '98, Evan Morris '99, Stephanie Slobotkin '99, and Brooke Barylick '00), and Professor of Political Science Byron Nichols.

The following letters offer a warm testimonial to David, still remembered by Congressional Quarterly as “one of the most meticulous, accurate, and at times visionary political reporters in the history of CQ.”

From: Prof. Byron Nichols
Phil Duncan was responsible for setting up the David Kaplan Internship program for a Union student participating in our Term in Washington program. David had been extremely successful at CQ, not just professionally but also in the manner in which his personality had connected him to virtually the entire staff. His death was an emotional blow to many at CQ, particularly Phil Duncan, who had been his mentor.

Phil took it upon himself to promote an internship at CQ for a student at David's alma mater and then to help raise almost $20,000 for an endowed fund whose annual interest would provide an unusual journalistic opportunity for the Kaplan intern.

The first Kaplan intern was Suzanne Dougherty '98 in the spring of 1996. She was followed by Evan Morris '99 in 1997 and Stephanie Slobotkin '99 in 1998. This year's Kaplan intern has been Brooke Barylick '00. The interest from the endowed fund was used to send Brooke to Louisiana for a three-day coverage of the run-off to fill the Congressional seat vacated by Robert Livingston early this year. Out of that trip came two pieces over Brooke's byline in CQ publications in late May.

Phil's primary responsibility is the publication of Politics in America every two years, probably the most used reference work on members of Congress in the United States. He has also been instrumental in helping expand CQ's publication efforts, in hard copy and on-line. Phil is coming to Union this week because all four of the first Kaplan interns will be at this year's Commencement, and he wants to wish them all well. Stephanie and Evan are in the graduating class, Suzanne is returning to campus for the graduation of a close friend (Suzanne is now a full-time employee at CQ), and Brooke is back on campus following the Term in Washington program.

From: Phil Duncan
I'm back from my trip to graduation weekend at Union, where we had a wonderful gathering of all four Kaplan Washington interns.

On Saturday the Political Science Department put on a reception for the Kaplan interns that was attended by faculty and the parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. on hand to see Evan and Stephanie graduate. Byron spoke about Dave and what he meant to CQ, and he praised Dave's family, friends, and work colleagues for launching an internship program that has offered a great Washington journalism experience to Union students. I brought greeting from Bob Benenson, Amy Stern, and Brian Nutting, the people at CQ who are most involved with the Kaplan internship. I said it meant a lot to Dave's family and to us that we've been able to develop something positive out of a tragic loss.

It was a great experience for me to walk the campus paths that Dave knew well, to see all the interns and many of their family members together, and to visit with Byron and his wife. Four years ago, when we first conceived of the Kaplan intern program, I never could have imagined the significant place it would achieve in the life of Union College, and the number of lives it would touch.