Posted on 05/30/2002 8:30:22 AM PDT by Printers Angel
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - A college class devoted to Bill Clinton's presidency, said to be the first of its kind, will be offered in his native state next year and a Republican will teach it.
University of Arkansas at Little Rock political science professor Margaret Scranton is developing the curriculum and will teach the class, slated to serve as the prototype for the planned Clinton School of Public Service at the Clinton Presidential Library. It will begin in January and was believed to be the first college class in the country on Clinton's life, school officials said Wednesday.
The Clinton school, part of the University of Arkansas system, and the library are expected to open in the fall of 2004.
"Because we can't begin classes there until 2004, the opportunity is right under our noses to begin doing things now," Scranton said.
Though the class will have access to former Clinton staff members and to presidential documents through a private Clinton foundation Web site, the foundation will have no role in designing the curriculum.
The course, "The Clinton Presidency," will touch on the achievements and travails of Clinton's political life - and the scandals and controversies that dogged his private life.
"This isn't a whitewash," said Scranton. "We're going to deal with the scandals and how you govern in the midst of it all ... the politics of personal destruction. That's part of the '90s."
Other class topics will cover Clinton's childhood days in Arkansas to serving as the state's governor to his relentless campaigns for president.
"As a Republican, it pains me to say we're talking about one of the most effective campaigners that the country has ever seen," Scranton said.
She hopes to attract speakers such as former NATO commander Wesley Clark, Bob Dole, Clinton lawyer David Kendall and even staunch Clinton critic Newt Gingrich.
"This begins Arkansas' academic study of the Clinton presidency ... and it does so before the library is actually opened," added Skip Rutherford, president of the Clinton foundation.
Scranton said the course will change and adapt over time as Clinton's legacy develops. The records of the Clinton administration will tell the true tale of the American president from Arkansas, she said, not the lingering memories of a White House intern and a list of pardons.
Scranton said the subpoenas and lawsuits associated with the Clinton era have made presidential records more readily available than other presidents.
"The controversies, in a way, work in the historian's and academic's benefit," she said.
Call in the local FReepers to form a picket line!
From an ancient thread on the subject:
Philosophy 107: What Is 'Is'?
An epistomological journeySociology 110: The Modern Feminist Token Economy
Explores the traffic of sexual favors in return for public support of iconographic policiesLaw 812: Permissible Perjury and Mental Reservation
How to use ambiguous language and effectively shift blame. How to grossly mislead without lying.Sociology 213: The Prosecutor as Oppressor Class
Explores using Marxist exegesis the nature of prosecutors as an oppressor class imprisoning the libidos of vulnerable citizensLaw 414: How to Coerce an Affadavit
An exposition of effective non-violent coercive techniques for tailoring affadavits. (Guest lecturer Terry Lenzner on March 12.)Law 416: The Joint-Defense Agreement
The use of the joint defense agreement to get a "heads-up" to avoid conflicting testimony.Law 418: The Pre-Emptive Leak
The use of leaks to impugn the legitimacy of a lawful investigation.Economics 310: The Compliant Female Employee
Characteristics to look for in women that assist the executive in exploring relationships inside the workplace while having a minimum impact on the efficiency of that workplace
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If AlamoGirl gets to compile the textbooks and reference material!
Cocaine jokes, intern jokes, ashtray jokes, snafu jokes, felony jokes, perjury jokes, infidelity jokes, pizza jokes, aspirin factory jokes, FBI file jokes...
More than enough material for a class.
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