Students taking Associate Professor Robert Bradley’s Campaign Politics (POS 220) got first-hand experience actively participating in the elections by working on the campaign of a candidate of their choice. Many students worked for Senator Barak Obama’s campaign early in the semester but were asked to help with other Democratic campaigns when Obama took a strong lead in the polls; some students have even become election judges. In addition to these activities some candidates visited class and addressed campaign issues.

Some Foundations of Inquiry (FOI) classes used the elections to help students develop critical thinking skills. Jodi Hallsten, Instructional Faculty member for the Department of Communication, asked students to choose an issue they were interested in, research each candidate’s position on the issue, and write a paper explaining which candidate people should vote for based on their position on that issue. Instructional Assistant Professor Dan Stump from the Department of History had his FOI students read articles dealing with theoretical arguments and positions adopted by both liberals and conservatives as a background guide to informed voting.

Associate Professor Joe Blaney organized his communication seminar so that graduate students reviewed research on "media effects" as the research relates to political advertising, debates, media coverage, entertainment content, and the Internet. Assistant Professor James Raines in the School of Social Work had students address the limitations of polling using “threats to internal validity” in his Evaluation in Child & Family Centered Practice course (SWK 445).

In English, Assistant Professor Amy Robillard engaged students in the study of the rhetoric of debate strategies in her two Rhetorical Theory and Application classes. Students watched the presidential debates and responded to them by analyzing each speaker’s rhetorical moves. Teresa Grettano, Graduate Teaching Assistant, based the entire semester of Language and Composition I on the elections: students started by identifying and analyzing their beliefs about democracy; then they analyzed how those beliefs were shaped by the government (rhetorically analyzing the convention speeches), the media (critically following a story through multiple media and a variety of sources), and the community (informally conducting field research). “It’s important for these students to know what they believe and how they came to believe it, " said Grettano. "For most of them, this will be the first time anyone will have shown interest in what they think. My hope was to have them see that their voices are valued and valuable when it comes to politics."

Assistant Professor Bernard Ivan Tamas said that drawing on the 2004 elections “helped keep students very focused and excited” in his Voting and Elections course (POS 310). Tonight, on the eve of the election, students are handing in papers predicting whether Bush or Kerry will win a particular state and presenting their predictions to the class.

Even CAS graduates are utilizing the elections as a teaching tool in their classrooms. Maribeth Westlund (Balda) (BS Social Sciences Education and Sociology ’83), chair of the Social Studies Department at Schaumburg High School, sponsored a school-wide debate with the help of Howard Rubin (BS History ’75). The “Leadership for Life” class was responsible for planning and moderating the debate, while students in U.S. History, Economics, and Government classes debated as supporters of Kerry and Bush on issues of national security, the economy, and education. Other social studies classes created commercials sponsoring candidates. Some students, trained to be voter registrars through the Cook County Court House, registered students who were eligible to vote and will serve as paid election judges through the First Election Judge program.

Back at ISU, Milner Library registered over 500 students to vote this semester, 342 within three hours on October 5, the last day to register.