ULEC on the 2016 Presidential Election Offered Next Semester

With CNN headlines like “Donald Trump Defends Size of his Penis,” Bernie Sanders’s Snow White moment with a little song bird at his Oregon rally, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign making their 404 error page a gif the presidential hopeful swiping her MetroCard five times before success, this election campaign season is more than unusual, to say the least. If you are not yet sick of all the constant media coverage and happen to be scrambling to get all your University Lectures in before graduation, you are in luck. You may be interested in a new course offered next semester, The 2016 U.S. Election. With all 100 seats full, students are showing strong interest in this presidential election lecture class.

David Plotke, a professor of politics at The New School for Social Research and author of several books on American politics and democracy, will be teaching the university lecture, using the “election as a window [into] contemporary American politics and society.”

Plotke hopes to teach his future students in this course how presidential elections work in United States and how this process fits both into ‘democratic standards’ and the overall political system of the United States.

Leading up to the election, the course will focus on the recent history of the different candidate’s campaigns and the continuing developments in the presidential race. It will touch on the key issues of this campaign season, such as the economy (in terms of both growth and inequality), immigration, and national security. Once the next president of the United States is named, whether that person is a Democrat or Republican, the class will shift its focus to explaining and understanding why that outcome was reached and “what it means for democracy now in the U.S.,” Plotke said.

The Plotke said he keeps a file on hand of thoughts from campaign coverage that he would like to address in next semester’s class, saying “a new one arises every couple of days.” This past week, his thoughts surrounded campaign dynamics and etiquette.

“On the Republican side, the last few weeks have seen a kind of race to the bottom in terms of trashiness and personal insults. Why is this dynamic so strong?” Plotke asked.

“On the Democratic side, both candidates have questioned whether the other one is ‘qualified.’ This dynamic is surely bad for both of them… and [Sanders] is on the verge of what looks like a pretty conventional sexism – if given her history, Clinton is not ‘qualified’ to be President, who would be? ”

Plotke has taught classes on the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections in the past, however he said even if he had not previously taught similar classes, he would have still wanted to teach one on this particular upcoming election due to its unique new angles, including the possibility of the first woman president, “[exposure and sharpening] of deep divisions in and around the [Republican] party, some of which may be beyond repair,” resulting reflection on Obama’s presidency and whether to continue or stop his policies, and lastly,“the campaign is likely to feature a very tough debate on immigration, whether or not Trump is the Republican nominee.  That’s a lot,” he said.
“Is it really historically bad, or do we simply flatter ourselves by remembering the better parts of prior campaigns?” Plotke asked of the 2016 election campaign season.