One political science professor is nixing her lesson plans and opening her classroom to students and non-students Thursday for a discussion of Tuesday’s surprising election results.
Jennifer Victor, a political science professor in George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government, teaches GOVT 103, Introduction to American Government.
She decided to open Thursday’s 10:30 a.m. session to the public after receiving emails from her current and former students about the election.
“I think a lot of people are disturbed by the results; there is some level of concern,” Victor said. “Students deserve opportunities for reflection. ”
She also noticed some students giving out free “post-election hugs” on campus, Victor said.
“The results for a lot of people are scary and unexpected,” she added.
Her class of 250 students is very much tuned into the world of politics; she begins each class by asking them what’s happening in the political world.
Thursday’s discussion will analyze why so many political scientists, including Victor, got the election results so wrong, she said.
A lot of forecasting models were primarily based on polling, and it turns out the polling got it wrong, Victor said.
“People thought Clinton was going to win. Even Trump himself may be a little surprised,” she said.
She surmises political scientists may have overlooked some of the fundamental aspects of the structure of the election, such as the unlikelihood of the people electing the same party into the White House for a third time, Victor said, since the Democrats have occupied the White House for eight years.
Opening classrooms to the non-enrolled is part of an election season trend at George Mason.
Professors in the Mason’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences held 13 election related public sessions of their classes during the first week in November.
This month, Mason Provost Emeritus Peter Sterns held a special session of HIST 125: World History, “The 2016 elections in global context.”
History and art history professor Kerry Roeder held a special session of ARTH 350: History of Photography called “Photography on the Campaign Trail: Photo Ops and Visual Messaging."