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ANGELINA DOHRE
Special to The Leader
Campus faculty are offering insight on current topics in the news. Through weekly “Democracy 101” talks in the garden area of Reed Library, various faculty members will provide information to students, staff, other faculty and Fredonia residents on issues presented in the media, particularly politics.
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Terry Brown came up with the program, and Director of the Professional Development Center Dawn Eckenrode coordinated it.
Brown brought the idea of Democracy 101 to life after spending a few months reflecting what role universities play in a time of turmoil.
“I’ve never seen such turmoil and division in our country as I’m seeing now,” she said. “I firmly believe that universities have a role to model what respectful civic discourse looks like, and we also have a role in helping people understand the news, to put it in context and to understand history.”
Brown decided that by taking the expertise of the faculty that is shared within the classroom and sharing it more broadly through civic discussions, the University would be fulfilling its role.
“We have wonderful faculty, really experts in their field who are great teachers,” she said.
The Democracy 101 program was thought up in about two weeks, according to Brown.
“[The program is] an immediate response to a situation that I think is urgent in our country,” she said. “Our faculty have stepped up and are offering basic lessons to help us understand today’s news.”
When it comes to the talks within the program, Brown stressed that the topics being discussed are not about choosing one side of the debate or the other.
“This program is about getting basic information to be informed so that we can formulate our opinion,” she said. “Debates are valuable but that would be something separate from what this is.”
The first talk, titled “Is there a limit to presidential power?,” was held on Feb. 14 and was presented by associate professor Jonathan Chausovsky of the Politics and International Affairs Department. During the hour-long session, Chausovsky covered basic constitutional design, the three branches of government (specifically the executive branch) and certain powers and constraints of the president.
Freshman psychology major Karina Lopez attended the talk because of her belief that political discussion is important. “I love politics, and it’s important to know who has power and how the system exactly works,” she said. “If I’m not very busy then I will attend more of these because these are very interesting topics and they are now mass culture.”
Other talks in the series include “Is Putin a war criminal?,” presented on Feb. 21 by history professor John Staples, and “Do public schools matter?” which will be presented on Feb. 28 by Curriculum and Instruction Department Chair Robert Dahlgren, but there are several more that will follow, according to Brown.
Future topics are expected to include bathroom bills, the history of the Environmental Protection Agency, terrorism, fake news, voter turnout, the strategy of gerrymandering districts and more.
Brown believes the Democracy 101 program will continue until it has run out of issues to cover. “It feels like we’re living in a political pinball machine where you don’t know where the issue of the day is going to be,” she said. “As long as people keep coming and faculty have something to say, we will continue this.”