PLAP 3500

This class, on paper, should have been really interesting, especially during an election season with so much tumult. At first, it was, with high-profile speakers speaking to the class via Zoom and interesting debates between Lawless (a Democrat) and Cary (a Republican) around the major issues of the election. The readings tended to be long and dense, but a five-question quiz before every class kept you motivated to read them on time without falling too far behind. They mostly averaged around 30-40 pages, although one weekend we had to read an entire book. Also, we were required to go to 10 election related events (door-knocking, speaker events, canvassing, etc.) to get involved with the democratic process as a portion of our grade. The midterms were not fair, with some asking us to recall specific words that speakers had said. They were also closed note, which added to the difficulty.

While pre-election the class was fine, it turned into somewhat of a disaster at the end of it. It was obvious that Lawless was fed up with Cary's presence at points, and she would snap at students and disrupt what was supposed to be a cordial, bipartisan class. The final project, a one-minute campaign ad, was fun, except we only had a week to make it with randomized groups of 10, and they were graded "over a glass of wine." Not cool. Tanked many people's grades, with no feedback given at all. Did not seem like Mary Kate Cary was given an input at all, as lovely as she was.

In 2028, steer FAR away from this class. Just read the news instead.