How will local universities be tackling Trump this fall? A sampling of catalog offerings:
US Democracy in Crisis
Schar School of Policy and Government, George Mason University
Jennifer Nicoll Victor has taught the course before, but this year she’s changing it to reflect how, as she says, “the US has moved to a regime type that is not classified as democracy.” Readings will likely include a Vox article about life in authoritarian countries and a piece that Victor wrote for the online publication the Conversation about how the US is moving in that direction.
The Presidency
Center for Advanced Governmental Studies, Johns Hopkins University
America has entered a “presidentialist era” says this class’s professor, Benjamin Ginsberg. The course will look into how the executive branch has become more significant in US culture and politics during the second Trump administration.
The American Presidency
Department of Political Science, George Washington University
Lecturer Michael Goff says his course will explore, in nearly real time, the “current controversies and disruptions” and the “impact and dysfunctionality of the Trump administration and the likelihood for its success long term.”
This article appears in the May 2025 issue of Washingtonian.
