OC gives incoming freshmen a new political science interest group option just in time for the 2020 election.

Political Citizenship, media, and faith will all be explored in OC’s new Faith and Politics Freshmen Interest Group. 

April 9, 2020 - Toward the end of this year, many college students will vote in their first national election. To make sure they are prepared for such a task, Associate Professor of Political Science Trey Orndorff, Associate Professor of Library Science Chris Rosser and Assistant Professor of Bible Alden Bass have started a Faith and Politics Freshman Interest Group. 

This FIG is for incoming OC freshmen that are interested in political science or just the 2020 election. Those students can sign up to be a part of this experience and live together in Davison Hall. They will all take a group of interlinked classes. Students partaking in FIG programs tackle timely issues, together. 

The group of classes include the three classes American Government: 2020 Election Edition, Faith and Politics and Media and Politics. 

American Government: 2020 Election Edition is taught by Orndorff. The class is required for all students, so if upperclassmen still need that credit, this option is available to them as well. Throughout the course, Ordnorff will dive deep into candidates’ tactics, successes and failures during an election, and how the voters perceive those candidates. While using techniques to understand human behavior, Orndorff wants his students to predict who it is that will hold the positions when the election comes to a close. 

Media and Politics will be taught by Rosser. It is a one-hour, hybrid, gamified course that sharpens critical thinking skills for more thoughtful, ethical information consumption. This course will have students participate in information creation and dissemination, identify and analyze misinformation and disinformation and enhance encounters with others who are immersed in media. 

“This course is a game,” said Rosser. “We’ll play all semester, moving between Jesus and Politics and American Politics: 2020 Election Edition, encountering and engaging news, media and information in real time. We’ll pay attention to who and what humans are and how and why they behave the way they do in relation to the information we’ll have.” 

Bass is teaching the Faith and Politics course that will tackle the conversation that many are afraid to have. Religion and politics in the same conversation can be hard, but Bass believes the conversations about hard questions will be helpful to the FIG. 

“There’s a great deal of disagreement about how faith ought to affect political behavior in a pluralistic society,” Bass said. “Questions like: ‘Should we keep a wall between church and state?’ Our class will consider the biblical evidence and tackle as many of these questions as we can.” 

To learn more about the Faith and Politics FIG, or to sign up to be a part of one, visit www.oc.edu/student-life/fig.