It’s Thanksgiving break for colleges and many students will be returning home for the first time since school started, at a time when the political climate is volatile.
That includes a group of Monroe Community College students have been studying the election cycle in a course led by two professors — one teaches sociology and the other teaches political science.
While the elective has been offered before, this is the first time it has been a multidisciplinary course, said political science professor Joe Scanlon. It started with an overview of presidential powers, the electoral process and the Electoral College, and the two main political parties, he said.
From there they opened up the floor to explore and analyze major issues that came up this election and that students ranked as the most important for them, Scanlon said.
"It's a very dialog centered class, so that means . . . it's open for all of our students to share their views, to share their experiences, to share their values, you know, and that's what's important about it, is recognizing that dialog was an essential part of democracy," Scanlon said.
Scanlon added that he and his co-teacher, sociology professor Nayda Pares-Kane, kept their political views and values out of the equation and centered the class on student discussion.
“It's actually been very enlightening for me, and it was actually fun to just kind of get to know where our students are at and get to hear from them," he said. “Gives me a better understanding of what young people are thinking.”
Student Cassandra Wisniewski said the class opened her perspective on key elements of U.S. democracy.
“It taught me more about the democratic process and like the inner workings of campaigns, and presidential powers,” Wisniewski said. “So it widened my scope of how the election process works and implications of certain policies on democracy as a whole.”
But the results of the election have left Wisniewski, a second-year political science major, feeling concerned about the future of that democracy.
“I'm concerned for, specifically, environmental protections being slashed and women's rights being threatened as well,” she said.
That existential anxiety coupled with her strong convictions puts her at odds with the political views of her family members, she said. That has left her feeling conflicted about the holiday season and how to balance time with family.
“I think people that feel like their rights are being threatened have an obligation to, at the very least, speak out and not remain silent, which is another reason why . . . not talking about politics during the holidays is something that I can't really support for myself.”
Her classmate, Angelo Romero, has a different take.
“Sometimes I want to keep politics out of holidays, especially with family, because it can get — it can be a lot of arguments,” Romero said. “I think that is not the best time for that. And so for me, if that happens, I'm just going to shut down real quick as best I can.”
Romero, who is also studying political science, said he didn’t feel represented by either main-party presidential candidate and ultimately voted based on his ideals.
“I just thought both weren't really good candidates,” Romero said. “I decided to write in the candidate who I thought represented my ideas, beliefs, and who I believed, even though they weren't going to win, would represent the country and do a good job as president.”
That sentiment reflects a wider trend, professor Scanlon said.
“Just from talking to students and just kind of observing, I think that the one thing — and this goes across party lines, and it goes across voter behavior — is I think a lot of people just feel underrepresented,” Scanlon said. “People have been disappointed with the quality, or the adequacy, of their representation for some time now. And they’re kind of struggling with how to address that.”
Wisniewski and Romero said they’ve gained insights into how the political system works in the country, flaws and all.
For Romero, he sees gerrymandering — when political parties change the boundaries of an electoral district to to increase their odds of winning races in it — as losing the plot when it comes to representing the interests of the people.
“They're more focused on trying to get seats in Congress rather than actually trying to represent the people,” he said. "I really think that's really an issue facing Congress because ... we're not getting anything done.”
For Wisniewski, the reality that money talks in politics doesn’t sit well.
“I think that it's really difficult for just the average person to run for office," Wisniewski said. I think the financial expectations for presidential campaigns are exorbitant. So, I think that there's a lot of financial barriers that that comes with just running for office, and which in turn, leads to inadequate representation of people that are within those impoverished communities.”
Sociology professor Nayda Pares-Kane, who co-teaches the elections course, said she’s gained insights through the course that were made possible by the students themselves.
"We have an extraordinary group of students in this class,” Pares-Kane said. “The level of critical thinking and sharing in terms of their personal perspective and how the selection is affecting them as individuals, as citizens of this country, has been really, really amazing.”
