As every single Butler University student is now aware, the university is offering a Fall 2017 course called "Trumpism and U.S. Democracy," which will examine President Trump's rhetoric, campaign, and ideals. Many people are peeved about this because the class description said it would discuss Trump's "sexism" and "white supremacy" and then "strategies for resistance" against these attitudes. Although the description has since been changed, conservative disapproval has not. To explore some Americans' reactions to and opinions of this class, I turn to Twitter. Let's begin.
You are exactly right, Butler is all about those things. That's one of the reasons they give their professors immense creative freedom when creating electives, in order to encourage different perspectives and passions. I know from my job in the Butler English Department offices that professors usually come up with ideas for electives themselves, and submit them to the department for approval. The reason there is no pro-Trump elective at Butler is probably because no professor wanted to teach it. Which is telling in and of itself, but not an intentional ban or exclusion on Butler's part.
This is the most civil tweet I could find about pulling funding from Butler (let's just say most of them used four-letter words that weren't "most"). To all of them I say; Butler is a private university. No federal funding, no tax dollars, no worries there. Stop cluttering the Butler tag with this concern when I just want to find cute pics of Trip.
I feel like there's already a good deal of "anti-Hillary" in America, considering she lost the election. Do we really need more of it? I'm inclined to say no. Furthermore, she and Obama are no longer active politicians like Trump. It makes more sense to have a class about him because he is current, hugely important, and insanely unpredictable. Obama's life is tame; he's j chillin' with Michelle and their dog. Why have a class on that?
Nah actually, having the freedom to criticize the leader of your country is about as American as it gets. We're incredibly lucky to live in a country where we can say and believe what we want and not be punished because of it. If it's the "resistance" or "activism" part of the class that you think is un-American, then I'm sorry to be the first to tell you that US history is chock full of social activism. It's as American as apple pie.
Yep. It is. Thanks to this whole situation, everyone thinks that Butler is the most liberal school in the state, when that is so far from the truth. Anyone who lives in Indiana will tell you that IU Bloomington is way more left than us, but they're somehow not the ones with a Fox News segment about them.
And, finally, someone who perfectly sums up how I feel:
Really, though, who cares? In Fall 2017, Butler is also offering weird, niche courses like "Mathematics and Magic," "Human Sexuality," and an entire class devoted to South Park. As far as weird Butler classes go, this one is a drop in the ocean. Also, only around twenty people will take it, because Butler classes are tiny. Please, everyone, relax. Scroll through the cute puppies tag on Twitter, maybe watch an episode of South Park, and chill out like the Obamas on vacation.
