Three alumni and current political science professors came to the Watters Theater in the Anderson Center on Saturday to discuss the current political climate as part of the Talks that Inspire, Educate and Resonate (TIER) speaker series sponsored by the Alumni Association.

David Schultz received his master’s in political science at Binghamton University in 1986. Schultz is a professor of political science at Hamline University in Saint Paul, Minnesota and discussed the rise of political polarization in the United States in recent decades. Schultz highlighted economic inequality as a factor in the polarization of political views and stated that the degree of economic inequality has been rising since the 1970s.

“Economic polarization drives political polarization,” Schultz said. “We now live in two different worlds, two nations separate and unequal.”
He further discussed that people are becoming less tolerant of those with differing views.

“Increasingly, we do not want to even live with people who disagree with us politically,” Shultz said. “This creates a situation in which our very environment reinforces our preconceived notions.”

Matthew Kerbel graduated from BU in 1980 and is the chair of the political science department at Villanova University. He discussed how the internet and social media have made information more accessible than ever before. He stated that this is an opportunity for more informed political participation from citizens.

“The challenge for this generation is to question and interpret information,” Kerbel said. “To be able to figure out what to accept and what to discard.”

The third speaker was Jean Harris, who received her bachelor’s in 1982, master’s in 1986 and Ph.D. in political science in 1988, all from BU. She is now a professor of political science and women’s studies at the University of Scranton. In her speech, she focused on the need for civic education, which entails classes that teach the structure of government and how to participate in politics, to create politically aware citizens and hopefully to promote civic participation. She said she supports instituting these courses from the elementary to the college level.

“People are not voting, and even those who do vote, do not know a lot about what they’re voting on,” Harris said. “Voters are factually illiterate when it comes to the political process, but that can change.”

Mike Crane, who majored in English and graduated from BU in 1982, visited the University for the reunion and attended the event. He said he enjoyed the discussion about changes in political partisanship.

“I learned something new about how we became polarized,” Crane said. “It used to be in the 1970s that there was a large moderate center, but now we are separated with high peaks on either side of the center.”

Alexandra Woodward, a junior majoring in political science, said she found the topics of discussion interesting in light of the upcoming election, and wished that more students had come to the event, which was mostly attended by alumni.

“I found it sad, how disproportionate the audience was between students and adults,” Woodward said. “It’s important to be involved in politics and with the current election year, I feel that students should be paying more attention than usual.”