Skip to content
ADVERTISEMENT
Sign In
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
  • More
  • Sections
    • News
    • Advice
    • The Review
  • Topics
    • Data
    • Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion
    • Finance & Operations
    • International
    • Leadership & Governance
    • Teaching & Learning
    • Scholarship & Research
    • Student Success
    • Technology
    • Transitions
    • The Workplace
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • Podcast: College Matters from The Chronicle
  • Newsletters
  • Virtual Events
  • Ask Chron
  • Store
    • Featured Products
    • Reports
    • Data
    • Collections
    • Back Issues
  • Jobs
    • Find a Job
    • Post a Job
    • Professional Development
    • Career Resources
    • Virtual Career Fair
    Upcoming Events:
    An AI-Driven Work Force
    University Transformation
Sign In
News

Post-Election, Some Professors Feel They Must Play Mediator

By Shannon Najmabadi January 27, 2017

Jay Barth has been teaching a course on political parties and elections since 1994. Most election years, the energy level of the class died down after the November vote. Last year, it ratcheted up significantly, said Mr. Barth, who is a professor of politics at Hendrix College.

To continue reading for FREE, please sign in.

Sign In

Or subscribe now to read with unlimited access for as low as $10/month.

Don’t have an account? Sign up now.

A free account provides you access to a limited number of free articles each month, plus newsletters, job postings, salary data, and exclusive store discounts.

Sign Up

Jay Barth has been teaching a course on political parties and elections since 1994. Most election years, the energy level of the class died down after the November vote. Last year, it ratcheted up significantly, said Mr. Barth, who is a professor of politics at Hendrix College.

And the days after President Trump’s election, he said, “created special challenges” for him and others in the classroom.

Will I put off my students? How will those talks affect course evaluations? Will I stifle conversation? Professors are asking questions like those.

It’s taboo as table talk and it’s eschewed at social engagements, but talking politics is increasingly viewed as an essential way to bridge the political divide and find common ground. However, it can get messy. Attempts to reconcile partisan views can dissolve into bickering.

The environment of a lecture hall can be even more fraught, as faculty members must play mediator and educator to students from a range of backgrounds. Though campus forums on politics are often held outside the classroom, some professors — like those in political science, such as Mr. Barth — can’t avoid the topic.

At the start of a new semester and a week into a new presidential administration, a few professors shared how they’re wrestling with talking politics and policy in class.

‘Feelings Are Very Raw’

As a professor of political science and philosophy at Weber State University, Leah A. Murray said she feels comfortable talking about contemporary politics. “To a certain extent, I am always discussing the election,” she said.

But Ms. Murray, who is also the democratic-engagement coordinator at the Utah institution, said her experience isn’t representative of most faculty members. In her role as coordinator, she said professors across the political spectrum have voiced concerns to her.

“Feelings are very raw,” she said. The mood is “not just ‘Hey, my team didn’t win.’”

Professors have often shown reticence to engage in politically charged conversations in class, Ms. Murray said, and this caution existed well before President Trump’s election.

Will I put off my students? How will those talks affect course evaluations? Will I stifle conversation? Questions like those are among their concerns, Ms. Murray said. Worries about tenure and promotion could deter some professors. And for many more, politics isn’t related to the curriculum in a way that makes it a common topic of conversation.

ADVERTISEMENT

But faculty members seem even more reluctant now, she said. She’s heard liberal professors worry, “How could I talk about Trump and not make a face? How could I do this in a very measured way?”

Ms. Murray said conservative colleagues have confided in her “that they’re being treated differently, and they feel it’s because they’re perceived as Trump supporters.”

Over all, she said, many professors seem to avoid talking politics, seeing it as “poking the bear.”

Ground Rules

For some professors, the trick lies in addressing policy without politicizing it.

ADVERTISEMENT

Thomas Arcaro, a professor of sociology at Elon University, said he’s always careful about not appearing to be “proselytizing for any particular perspective.” But, he said, race, gender and other charged topics that his “Introduction to Sociology” class deals with are best seen “in action.” His past course evaluations indicate that students appreciate that he connects classroom discussions to current events, he said.

Part of the challenge this semester, he said, lies in describing events without appearing to push one particular viewpoint. Some faculty members have to do a “bit of gymnastics,” he said, to avoid making ad hominem or partisan statements, while still pointing out rhetoric or actions that are anomalous to U.S. politics or history.

I wouldn’t advise just walking in and saying, ‘Today we’re supposed to be learning about geography but instead we’re going to talk about —

Others said they’ll discuss policy if it’s related to course content, but may not name a particular political party or individual. Some suggested tying current political events to curricula in a deliberate but natural way.

ADVERTISEMENT

A contemporary issue like Keystone XL — a controversial extension of an oil-pipeline project from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast — could be a prelude to a lecture on geography, for example. “I wouldn’t advise just walking in and saying, ‘Today we’re supposed to be learning about geography but instead we’re going to talk about —,’” Ms. Murray said.

Mr. Barth, who is also the director of civic-engagement projects at Hendrix, said he thinks conversations are happening across disciplines about what the new administration’s policies — so far, many of them acted upon in a flurry of executive actions — mean for different fields. Others say introspection over how to address political dialogue now is largely confined to political- and social-science courses.

Ground rules can help keep conversations about politics civil. Steven Elliott-Gower, an associate professor of political science at Georgia College and State University, said some professors found it difficult not to discuss the election’s result because it was momentous.

Faculty members who did so, he said, would often preface those conversations with guidelines like not cutting others off mid-sentence.

ADVERTISEMENT

Carly Schmitt, an assistant professor of political science at Indiana State University, taught a course on campaigns and elections in the fall and now teaches a class on leadership, ethics, and democracy.

Worried about what she saw as divisiveness in society, particularly on social media, she now enforces several policies in her classrooms: Students should avoid broad generalizations, keep conversations civil, and understand that differences of opinion are healthy for democracy. She challenges students who make statements based just on feeling or opinion, and will rein in conversations that she thinks are veering toward incivility.

“When we are interacting with other people,” she tells her students, “we are interacting to learn more, we’re not interacting just to make a point.”

Balancing ‘the Heart and the Head’

Many professors said their students aren’t coming to class seeking out politically charged conversations, but if those conversations do come up organically, they’ll deal with them.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We need to scaffold for our students how you have these tough conversations,” Ms. Murray, the Weber professor, said. “If we don’t talk about them in a civil way, when will our students learn how to discuss them?”

Mr. Barth said he concentrates on the analytical side of politics as a counter to his students’ passion; he said it creates a balance between “the heart and the head.”

Though the new semester has just begun, he said the recent election has prompted him to think of refocusing his curriculum on broader questions: What should democracy look like? What should participation look like? Some of the more narrow topics he discussed before, he said, now seem less significant.

A version of this article appeared in the February 10, 2017, issue.
We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.
Share
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Email
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Related Content

The Tricky Task of Teaching About Trump
Teaching Immigration Law in the Age of Trump
Trump as a Teaching Moment
Teaching Trump

More News

On the day of his retirement party, Bob Morse poses for a portrait in the Washington, D.C., offices of U.S. News and World Report in June 2025. Morse led the magazine's influential and controversial college rankings efforts since its inception in 1988. Michael Theis, The Chronicle.
List Legacy
‘U.S. News’ Rankings Guru, Soon to Retire, Reflects on the Role He’s Played in Higher Ed
Black and white photo of the Morrill Hall building on the University of Minnesota campus with red covering one side.
Finance & operations
U. of Minnesota Tries to Soften the Blow of Tuition Hikes, Budget Cuts With Faculty Benefits
Photo illustration showing a figurine of a football player with a large price tag on it.
Athletics
Loans, Fees, and TV Money: Where Colleges Are Finding the Funds to Pay Athletes
Photo illustration of a donation jar turned on it's side, with coins spilling out.
Access & Affordability
Congressional Republicans Want to End Grad PLUS Loans. How Might It Affect Your Campus?

From The Review

A stack of coins falling over. Motion blur. Falling economy concept. Isolated on white.
The Review | Opinion
Will We Get a More Moderate Endowment Tax?
By Phillip Levine
Photo illustration of a classical column built of paper, with colored wires overtaking it like vines of ivy
The Review | Essay
The Latest Awful EdTech Buzzword: “Learnings”
By Kit Nicholls
William F. Buckley, Jr.
The Review | Interview
William F. Buckley Jr. and the Origins of the Battle Against ‘Woke’
By Evan Goldstein

Upcoming Events

Plain_Acuity_DurableSkills_VF.png
Why Employers Value ‘Durable’ Skills
Warwick_Leadership_Javi.png
University Transformation: A Global Leadership Perspective
Lead With Insight
  • Explore Content
    • Latest News
    • Newsletters
    • Letters
    • Free Reports and Guides
    • Professional Development
    • Virtual Events
    • Chronicle Store
    • Chronicle Intelligence
    • Jobs in Higher Education
    • Post a Job
  • Know The Chronicle
    • About Us
    • Vision, Mission, Values
    • DEI at The Chronicle
    • Write for Us
    • Work at The Chronicle
    • Our Reporting Process
    • Advertise With Us
    • Brand Studio
    • Accessibility Statement
  • Account and Access
    • Manage Your Account
    • Manage Newsletters
    • Individual Subscriptions
    • Group and Institutional Access
    • Subscription & Account FAQ
  • Get Support
    • Contact Us
    • Reprints & Permissions
    • User Agreement
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • California Privacy Policy
    • Do Not Sell My Personal Information
1255 23rd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037
© 2025 The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Chronicle of Higher Education is academe’s most trusted resource for independent journalism, career development, and forward-looking intelligence. Our readers lead, teach, learn, and innovate with insights from The Chronicle.
Follow Us
  • twitter
  • instagram
  • youtube
  • facebook
  • linkedin