John Banzhaf is a professor of public interest law at the GW Law School.

I’m writing in response to Jacob Garber’s Forum post, “Honesty in admissions should go all the way,” (Nov. 4, online).

In the piece, Garber cautions against GW using its “one-liners” to entice applicants. I do too, because the slogans are misleading and possibly deceptive.

When I recently taught a large university-wide course, I began by noting that GW claims in its branding effort that, “your four years at GW can change the course of history,” and “faculty and students not only study the world but also work to change it.”

But when I asked the students if they had ever been given an assignment which could really change the world, or if any of their professors had even provided examples of how their own work or those of their students had ever changed public policy, not a single hand went up.

The reason for this is simple. Although we are within a few minutes of hundreds of the most powerful agencies in the world, most GW professors do not take advantage of this proximity. Very few faculty members encourage students to influence these decisions regarding health care, financial and economic transactions, discrimination or air and drug safety, just to name a few current issues.

That’s unfortunate, since even students can have an impact in the real world. In my class, I provided numerous examples of students who played major roles in passing laws and regulations, some even before entering college. My law students have achieved hundreds of major victories for consumers. Undergraduates have helped revive and strengthen dozens of agencies when finally given some encouragement and leadership – though unfortunately not by their professors.

Students, especially idealistic ones, would be happier, learn more and obtain real satisfaction if our university would make an effort to craft more programs where students are encouraged and taught by our leaders to work to change the world.