Our trip to Switzerland was extremely successful in all aspects: logistics, meetings, and cultural events. This trip was particularly enriching for the students due to the wide array of meetings and experiences that they could then relate to leadership in their education and future careers.
Switzerland Trip
The GCPL trip to Switzerland took place from March 7-14, 2025. Our first destination was Geneva, and we spent our first full day there exploring the city and making a pilgrimage to the childhood home of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (we’d prepped for the trip by reading from Rousseau’s Geneva Manuscript, which was the first draft of what became his epoch-defining text The Social Contract).
On March 10 we held two meetings with organizations within the United Nations. The first of these meetings was with the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), where we discussed topics pertaining to global migration flows. This meeting was a perfect pairing with our fall GCPL seminar, which was titled “America’s Immigration Situation: 2024” and which examined migration flows within the Western hemisphere.
Our second meeting on March 10 was with the UN’s International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria (IIIM-Syria), which is tasked with investigating war crimes committed in Syria. The IIIM-Syria officials were particularly impressed by the fact that the GCPL is able to provide international, sophisticated learning opportunities to a population who are – in many cases – first generation college students.
Following these meetings, we travelled by bus to the town of Gruyeres and proceeded to enjoy a group meal of fondue at the restaurant Chalet du Gruyeres. After exploring Gruyeres, we took the bus to the Swiss capital of Bern, arriving there in the evening.
On March 11 we met with a Swiss government representative, in one of the elegant government office buildings near the city’s main square. We heard a lot about the nature of the Swiss direct democracy, how well it works in Switzerland, and some of the national characteristics of the Swiss which contribute to that smooth functioning. This was followed shortly thereafter by a meeting at the US Embassy in Bern with the Embassy’s Counselor for Economic and Political Affairs. The students found this meeting especially beneficial in terms of details and insights.
On March 12 we caught a train to Zurich and had an afternoon meeting there with three Swiss bankers, discussing aspects of international finance, the Swiss banking system, and the history of Swiss finance. On the evening of March 12, we had a group dinner at the extremely elegant dining club of Zurich’s Safran Guild. Dinner was proceeded by a talk from one of the guild members – a local business leader – about the nature/history of the guild, and its involvement in the evolution of Zurich’s – and hence Switzerland’s – democratic institutions.
On March 13, we took a train/bus trip to the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), located in the countryside near Zurich. The PSI is one of the leading scientific research institutes in Switzerland, and this visit was planned/facilitated/overseen by Hiram chemistry professor Jim Kercher, who has conducted research at the PSI on multiple occasions. This trip was particularly impactful for many of our science/medical career-orientated students.
At the end of our visit, we had a meeting with the Director of the PSI. Although a physical scientist, his role as director of a major government-funded research center causes him to make politically sophisticated decisions all the time, and it was fascinating to hear his views on contemporary national and international political situations, and how they impact the PSI.
In sum, this was the most successful trip the GCPL has ever taken, in every way, from the number of quality meetings, to the effectiveness of our travel plans, to the impactful cultural experiences, to the general behavior and professionalism of the students, to the number of views our travels generated on GCPL social media.
Notably, during this last month, the number of views of GCPL Instagram was more than double our previous all-time record – of over 3,000 views during a one-month period – with over 6,000 views in a one-month period.
We want to extend a special thanks to Bill Recker, who not only made this trip financially do-able – as he has for our previous trips – but who also called upon his contacts in and personal knowledge of Switzerland to ensure that the group had the best possible learning experience.
James Thompson, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science
ThompsonJA@Hiram.edu
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