In October 2002, then-Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75 of Rhode Island was the lone Senate Republican to vote against authorizing the invasion of Iraq. "The last thing we want is unnecessary conflict," he told The Herald on Monday.
This semester, Chafee will lead an undergraduate study group at Brown centered on the same belief - that nations should try their best to avoid violent conflict.
Chafee joined the Watson Institute for International Studies Jan. 7 as a distinguished visiting fellow, the first former senator from Rhode Island to join the institute, according to Associate Director Geoffrey Kirkman '91.
"(The job is) perfect because international relations was the area I enjoyed most in my time at the Senate," Chafee said.
Chafee said he is looking forward to "the chance to do something different" from politics. After graduating from Brown in 1975 with a degree in classics, he worked as a farrier, a blacksmith who shoes horses, in Montana and Canada for several years before he returned to the Ocean State and was elected to the Warwick City Council in 1986.
In 1992 he became mayor of Warwick, and in 1999 then-Gov. Lincoln Almond appointed Chafee to fill his father's Senate seat after John Chafee passed away. Chafee won a full term in 2000, but he was defeated in his re-election bid by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in November.
"It's been a long stretch of being in public service as my full time job," he said. "This is a chance to catch my breath and focus on just dealing with international issues and trying to make the class lively," he added.
Chafee's appointment also reflects change for the Watson Institute, Kirkman said. Most Watson faculty members are academics, he said, and the institute wants to employ more people like Chafee with "real-world experience."
"It's a real challenge for research institutes to bridge the gap between academics and policy- making," he said. "It's exciting to get someone here who has a different vantage point in every respect."
Chafee's appointment is "a great thing for Brown" and "a great opportunity for students," said Brett Heeger '08, an International Relations concentrator who said he hopes to join Chafee's study group. "The connections he has in addition to his own experience makes it likely that he will be able to bring in world leaders and terrorism experts, so students will learn from people who are making important policy decisions," Heeger said.
Chafee, a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations committee, said he plans to utilize those connections - he has invited experts he met while serving in the Senate to speak about crises in the Middle East and other global hot spots at his study group. The group will meet biweekly, is not for credit and is limited to juniors and seniors concentrating in International Relations. Several guest speakers have already accepted, he said, though he declined to name them.
Chafee said he will deliver guest lectures in some classes, but he said he felt that as a first-time instructor, teaching a for-credit class would not be "the best way to start." He said he has no "solidified" plans for research yet and is unsure if he'll teach any for-credit classes in the future, but he is looking to hire an undergraduate assistant.
The Watson Institute does not make public the stipend fellows receive, but Chafee said his stipend will be "more than I made as a mayor and less than I made as Senator."
How long Chafee will remain on College Hill is not yet clear. He emphasized that he has not decided on his plans for the future, and his post at Watson is a temporary one. But he said he may remain longer if he finds that his "skills have any harmony with this position. I expect they will, but I want to make sure."
Chafee said he couldn't comment on the possibility of leaving politics completely for the academic world. "(I'd) better answer that in May, when the study group has concluded," he said.
Chafee admitted that he is "a little bit scared" about teaching. He said he worries whether he will be able to challenge students and keep them interested in the material. "I'm no different from any teacher before their first class," he said.
"I want to see how this class goes," he said. "If I want to do something, I want to do it well. I can't just parachute into Brown University. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew."
For now, Chafee said, he will focus on attracting interesting speakers for his study group and preparing for the Stephen A. Ogden Jr. Memorial Lecture on International Affairs next month, when he will speak on the Quartet Roadmap to Israeli-Palestinian Peace.
