2008 Woodie Awards
New course aims to help reclaim democracy
Cynthia Marts
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: Campus News
Next spring a new course titled "Reclaiming Democracy: Dialogue, Decision-Making, and Community Action" will be added to many nearby campus's course catalogs.
Stemming off of the question 'What is Democracy?' and working with multiple views and opinions, the goal of this class is to bring together students and faculty from all of the universities in Greensboro, along with people of the community, to teach, learn and create.
For the past few months, a group of professors and community members from all over the city have met weekly to discuss their ideas for the new class and organize their plans.
This group of seven activists, one professor from each Greensboro campus and one writer, has worked to create a unique and thought-provoking class for anyone and everyone interested.
"The title is 'Reclaiming Democracy' because that is what we want to do," explained community activist and writer Ed Whitfield. "Democracy has gotten a bad reputation as something that is sent around the world and used to start wars. It is described often, but not felt in communities that don't have a say in their own lives. We want to create a theoretical and practical understanding of what this thing is."
One of the hopes of this team is to get enough students to have a vast range of opinions, thoughts, and ideas.
"We want to bring together students from all six campus's, along with folk from the community," said Lawrence Morse, associate professor of Economics at N.C. A&T.
"As we look at this thing called democracy, we're not all going to agree on what it is," commented Spoma Jovanovic, associate professor of Communication Studies at UNCG. "Is democracy this idea of electing representatives and them making decisions for us?"
Next semester, each of the six campuses these professors represent will begin their own version of the Reclaiming Democracy class. Each will be in the department of its respective professor, with UNCG presenting the class within the department of Communication Studies.
Stemming off of the question 'What is Democracy?' and working with multiple views and opinions, the goal of this class is to bring together students and faculty from all of the universities in Greensboro, along with people of the community, to teach, learn and create.
For the past few months, a group of professors and community members from all over the city have met weekly to discuss their ideas for the new class and organize their plans.
This group of seven activists, one professor from each Greensboro campus and one writer, has worked to create a unique and thought-provoking class for anyone and everyone interested.
"The title is 'Reclaiming Democracy' because that is what we want to do," explained community activist and writer Ed Whitfield. "Democracy has gotten a bad reputation as something that is sent around the world and used to start wars. It is described often, but not felt in communities that don't have a say in their own lives. We want to create a theoretical and practical understanding of what this thing is."
One of the hopes of this team is to get enough students to have a vast range of opinions, thoughts, and ideas.
"We want to bring together students from all six campus's, along with folk from the community," said Lawrence Morse, associate professor of Economics at N.C. A&T.
"As we look at this thing called democracy, we're not all going to agree on what it is," commented Spoma Jovanovic, associate professor of Communication Studies at UNCG. "Is democracy this idea of electing representatives and them making decisions for us?"
Next semester, each of the six campuses these professors represent will begin their own version of the Reclaiming Democracy class. Each will be in the department of its respective professor, with UNCG presenting the class within the department of Communication Studies.
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