"The basic format looks good," he says. "For the first time, it reflects an openness that students feel is necessary to make the vitality of the IOP a reality."

When the task force finalizes their document over the next couple of days after they receive e-mails from comments from students, they will submit the proposal to Sen. Pryor, and if approved, the proposal will go to the Senior Advisory Board, a graduate board composed of Senator Ted Kennedy and other politicos who monitor the progress of the IOP.

This past Monday, the board came to the Kennedy School for their biannual meeting. According to students and staff members who attended this semester's meeting, it was an unusual success because of the progress that the Institute had made this semester.

"At the meeting, we really presented the innovative things we were doing while in the past, we had been presenting the status quo," says Woodruff. "If we learned anything from the process of the restructured government, it's that communication is key."

Pryor attributed the success of the meeting to the students who presented the progress of the semester and the ideas for the next semester.

"The meeting was fabulous, and what made it so good, was the students," Pryor says. "It was a thrill to see these students so articulate and so passionate about their mission."

Content with the homestretch of his term as President of the IOP, McCarthy looks forward to the new innovations that the new semester and new structured government will include.