Professor requires students to vote

It's the first day of class, and your American literature professor hands you an unusual class syllabus. Written in bold letters underneath the list of great American classics is the sentence: "Voting in the upcoming presidential election is a requirement to pass the course." \nThe official election date is fast approaching, and it isn't a secret that college-aged citizens are notoriously apathetic to the voting process. A poll conducted by the Leon and Sylvia Panetta Institute for Public Policy, a think-tank at California State University, found that only 35 percent of college-aged citizens believe that voting will create "a lot of change," in comparison to the 47 percent who thought so four years ago, according to a CNN article.\nThe New York Times reported last month that a professor of American literature at Drew University in Madison, N.J., Merrill Skaggs, decided to take on the fight against apathy herself by requiring students in her classes to vote. She e-mailed other professors in the University to urge them to follow her example. \nMarjorie Hershey, an IU professor of political science, believes Skaggs' method is not legitimate. \n"We discussed the campaign in (my) class, but my sense is that students are adults and they can make the decision to vote," she said. "I think everybody has to make their own mind up. It is one of the important things about a democratic society that we have the right to decide whether or not we want to vote." \nTed Carmines, who is also a political science professor at IU, laughed when he heard of requiring students to vote. \n"I'm opposed to that," he said. "You want people to vote, but you want them to vote for the right reasons, and the right reasons are that they have thought about the candidates and parties and came to a conclusion on their own." \nSenior Adam Tarr is not planning to vote in the upcoming election. \n"First of all, it's too much of a hassle because I'm from Illinois," he said. "Plus, I don't like either of the candidates, so I don't really have a preference who wins. I'd rather they both lose."\nThe majority of professors at Drew University were also against the idea, for reasons similar to the ones Hershey and Carmines cited. Skaggs remains undaunted by the criticisms.\n"All classrooms have requirements, but you can get out of a classroom if you want," Skaggs told CNN. "It's an intellectual choice."\nHowever, students who must take the class to graduate have no such option. \nIf faced with a professor who required students to vote, Tarr said he would go ahead and vote. \n"I would just do it without having a hassle with (the teacher), whether it was a good idea or not," he said. "But I'd feel like it wasn't (the teacher's) place to make people vote."\nHowever, Tarr said the requirement wouldn't inspire him to do any further research on the candidates before entering the voting booth. He would simply go by what he already knew of each candidate. \nSenior Kristine Vonesh wasn't bothered by Skagg's idea. \n"I don't think I'd care because I'm planning on voting anyways," she said. "I think that a lot of the kids are voting anyways."\nBecause Skaggs' requirement has gained national attention, she scaled down the requirement to simply entering the voting booth on Election Day. Because of this, students do not actually have to vote. Still, those who are not registered cannot take advantage of this "scaling back," as they will not be allowed to enter the polling sites Nov. 2.\n-- Contact staff writer Lydia Song at lsong@indiana.edu.