The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy is a nonpartisan organization within Wayne State University Law School in Detroit, Michigan, working to improve the ability of "legislative bodies at all levels – federal, state, and abroad – to expose public and private sector abuses, ensure effective governance, and bring critical facts to light for the benefit of all." The Levin Center was founded by former U.S. Senator Carl Levin to promote bipartisan, fact-based oversight investigative techniques.
History
The Levin Center was founded in 2015, at Wayne State University Law School by former U.S. Senator Carl Levin and his long-time staff members Elise Bean and Linda Gustitus. The Center has offices in Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D.C., and focuses on training legislators and staff, promoting scholarship and academic programming, and hosting conferences on important issues in oversight.
Jocelyn Benson, then dean of Wayne State University Law School, served as the first director of the Levin Center from September 2016 to August 2017. She was succeeded by Robert Ackerman, who led the Center until November 2019, at which time its current director, Jim Townsend, assumed the role.
The Levin Center at Wayne Law changed its name to the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy in April 2022.
Funding
The Levin Center receives financial support for its endowment and operations from a wide variety of sources including: individuals, family foundations, national and regional charitable foundations, the U.S. Department of Education, and Wayne State University.
Oversight Training
The Levin Center provides training to improve bipartisan, fact-based, effective oversight by legislative bodies.
National
The Levin Center, along with the Project on Government Oversight (POGO) and the Lugar Center, holds Oversight Boot Camps for congressional staff in Washington, D.C. These two-day training sessions teach staff members from the U.S. House and Senate, from both democrat and republican offices, how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based oversight investigations. The first boot camp was held in August 2015. In 2019, the Levin Center also began offering Clerk Workshops for administrative personnel who support congressional oversight investigations.
The Levin Center began offering online tutorials in 2017. The website includes short videos on topics related to fact-finding, bipartisan techniques, writing investigative reports, holding hearings, and finding solutions.
The Levin Center has provided testimony at congressional hearings on oversight, including the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts and House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. In addition, it has developed a series of Portraits in Oversight describing notable congressional investigations, and also tracks important cases in the federal courts litigating oversight issues.
State
The Levin Center offers workshops for state legislators and their staffs on how to conduct bipartisan, fact-based oversight investigations. The Center has conducted workshops, for example, in California, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. It has also led workshops and presentations at meetings of the National Council of Insurance Legislators, National Conference of State Legislatures, and Council of State Governments West. In addition, the Levin Center has offered online webinars addressing specific oversight skills.
In 2018, the Levin Center sponsored a comprehensive study on the oversight capabilities and mechanisms in the 50 state legislatures. It has also sponsored research on other state-level oversight topics. In addition, the Levin Center has provided testimony to some state legislatures regarding their current oversight capabilities and recommended improvements. In March 2023, it launched the State Oversight Academy to further focus on state-level oversight.
International
In December 2015, the Levin Center partnered with the Anti-Corruption Action Center to conduct an oversight workshop in Kiev, Ukraine, with Ukrainian Parliamentary staffers. In October 2016, Center staff travelled to Brussels, Belgium to hold a two-day training workshop for a European Parliamentary investigative committee. In 2021, the Levin Center provided online training on two occasions to European Parliamentary staff.
Students
The Levin Center has partnered with the YMCA Youth and Government program which helps high school students conduct mock oversight hearings on relevant topics, such as social media surveillance by schools.