Political Science classes fill up in election season

When College sophomore Pamela Putnam was deciding which classes to take this fall, she knew she wanted to take a Political Science course along with her pre-med ones.

Putnam said November's presidential election motivated her to learn more about American government.

"How can you vote if you don't know enough about the system you're voting for?" she said.

Putnam isn't alone. Professors in the Political Science Department said spikes in enrollment in Political Science classes are in part a result of an increased interest in politics due to the election.

Avery Goldstein, chairman of the Political Science Department, said there has been higher enrollment in a number of American politics courses, including Introduction to American Politics and classes about the presidency, Congress and media in elections this year.

Goldstein said the increased enrollment is in part due to the expansion of Penn's Political Science Department - but the election is also playing a part.

"Increases in enrollment is often driven by the news," he said.

Political Science professor John DiIulio, who teaches Introduction to American Politics, also believes presidential elections motivate students to enroll in political science courses.

"My intuition . is that many students who might not otherwise consider taking an American politics course do consider taking one during an election year," he wrote in an e-mail.

DiIulio, who has taught American politics for the past 26 years, added that while there is increased enrollment in his class in many presidential election years, some years see a higher bounce than others.

In 1992, he said, there seemed to be great student interest in taking Political Science courses. DiIulio said Ross Perot's role as a strong third-party candidate and a young Democratic candidate in Bill Clinton could have inspired students.

Likewise, DiIulio wrote, it is possible that students this year are particularly interested in taking political courses because the election features another young Democrat running for president -- Sen. Barack Obama. DiIulio's class of more than 200 students is completely full and many who wished to enroll could not get in.

Goldstein said elections are not the only current events that motivate students to take political science courses.

He said higher enrollment in other types of politics courses, like those dealing with Chinese and Middle Eastern politics, has occurred in recent years because of their relevance to current events.

Political Science professor Henry Teune said enrollment in Political Science classes has also been affected by people's confidence in the government.

After the Vietnam War and Watergate, enrollment decreased, Teune said. It began to pick up in the late 1990s, when the economy was improving and people had more faith in the government.

"The macropolitical environment affects enrollment," he said.

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