A faculty member ‘in the making’ honored by AAHE

By Susan Williams

So it follows that there had better be an abundant supply of fine future faculty in the making, the likes of D. Christopher Brooks, for instance. He is a graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in political science at IU Bloomington, and currently is teaching at IPFW.

Brooks recently received an American Association for Higher Education national K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award, which recognizes students in all disciplines who are committed to developing academic and civic responsibility in themselves and others. He also has participated in the Future Faculty Teaching Fellows Conference, sponsored by IU’s FACET, and Research and University Graduate School.

Brooks shares his thoughts and goals on pursuing a career in higher education with IU Home Pages readers.

Q: As a future faculty member, what guides you in your own development of a teaching philosophy?

A: As a political scientist whose primary fields are comparative politics and political theory, my teaching philosophy is consistent with my discipline and interests: a pedagogy of citizenship. In addition to the basic materials related to specific classes or topics, I attempt to teach students the importance of behaving and thinking politically in their daily lives and to equip them with the skills necessary to carry out these tasks.

Q: Is there a particular inspiration for you in this approach?

A: It stems from my interest and research on the pre-1989 social action of East-Central Europe. I find it absolutely fascinating that in the face of abject oppression, in societies with a dearth of respect for civil and human rights, people were willing to sacrifice their careers, freedoms and often their lives to be political.

Conversely, ours is a society in which our dislike of partisan conflict and scandal, and relatively low levels of political efficacy breed a passivity, apathy and cynicism towards politics. Coupled with our tendency to take our rights for granted, these attitudes produce conditions that could threaten our democratic freedoms.

I find this extremely problematic and use my classroom as a forum to emphasize the importance of being an active, critical and vigilant citizen.

Q: How do you teach the importance of citizenship?

A: I approach this larger pedagogical goal so that it’s incorporated naturally into the classroom. The tasks and activities associated with citizenship-building are not designed to bring students around to a particular point of view or to indoctrinate them into a specific ideology. Rather, they are built-in to develop certain habits and skills associated with being a political person. Although not every student adopts these habits and behaviors, I find it rewarding when I see those who do begin to use them independently.

Q: So you make the process of learning citizenship more a matter of individual discovery?

A: Yes, with a simple set of processes. I require that students keep abreast of current events so that they are informed about the world in which they live. I perpetually question their unsupported opinions and attitudes toward political issues or events so that they learn to think critically and are able to evaluate arguments made by others. I use the study of other countries and regions of the world to teach that there are numerous ways of conducting oneself in a political, economic or social manner. I hope that students can then understand the importance of tolerance for things, people and practices outside of their relatively isolated experiences. I also confront students with complex political, economic and social dilemmas that require them to think about justice and ethical issues.

Q: Can you offer a classroom example?

A: All four of these processes converged in a recent discussion about the Serbian democratic revolution and the first U.S. presidential debate. A brief consideration of both events was followed by a discussion about the apparent discrepancies between democratic thought and practice. The students felt that our overwhelming support of the Serbian democrats overthrowing Milosovic was in conflict with the fact that the exclusion of Ralph Nader from the presidential debates was all but ignored by an unelected, corporately financed debate commission.

After my students stumbled upon this comparison, they debated the meaning of democracy as an ideal versus democracy as a practical form of governance. They also produced a laundry list of possible solutions to what they perceived to be a situation in which democratic rights had been usurped by non-democratic forces.

Thus, my students not only met my expectations for them to think critically about political matters, but exceeded those expectations by doing the civically responsible thing: proposing reasoned solutions to political problems.

Q: Teaching is only one part of how faculty are awarded tenure. There also are scholarship and service. How do you approach those other two activities in terms of thinking about democratic citizenship?

A: Aside from the way I teach, I try to “practice what I preach” in other dimensions of my professional and public life.

In terms of research, the subject matter I write about and the approach I take to writing remain true to these values. Studying democratic transitions affords me ample opportunity to look at how people practice democratic rights and the problems they face when creating a democratic regime from a non-democratic one. My dissertation on the Czechoslovak democratic social movement, Charter 77, ends by suggesting its peaceful, inclusive and grassroots approach to fighting social and political injustice as a model, not only for potentially democratizing states, but also for improving the quality of established democratic states.

I also am inspired by the writings of C. Wright Mills. I make efforts to write in a style that is accessible to non-academic audiences, avoiding, whenever possible, academic jargon. After all, it does little good to write about the need for expanded democratic participation if the audience is put off by a writing style.

Q: You have mentioned that a personal experience at IU Bloomington had challenged the courage of your convictions regarding citizenship. What was that?

A: I often draw upon the July 4,1999, murder at IU Bloomington of Won-Joon Yoon, a Korean graduate student.

I was teaching a critical reading course for IU’s Groups, a program for under-represented and first-generation college students. Along with the problems of adjusting to college life, my class, which was composed largely of minority students, was noticeably and justifiably frightened about continuing their studies following the racist and violent event which had taken place a mere two blocks from where they were living. Many, if not all, wanted to flee Bloomington and never return.

I suspended my regular lesson plan for two days so that we could discuss the murder, racism and what options were available to them. I suggested that in leaving Bloomington, they conceded victory to the forces of hate and that running away from racism is not a solution, but part of the problem. I invited them to lay flowers with me at the sight of the murder and to attend a peaceful march against hate sponsored by the recently formed grass-roots movement, Bloomington United. In the end, each of my students decided to continue their education at IU and become part of the Bloomington community.

I continue to see and to hear from some of those students. They have occasionally thanked me for helping them realize that determination is more powerful than fear.

Q: You’ve also remained active in Bloomington United since that time?

A: I’ve been an active member of Bloomington United and am involved in the movement’s proactive Education Initiative Committee, which is designed to teach tolerance and compassion in the local school system and to promote greater understanding among the young in our community.

Initial effort has been a Web-based clearinghouse for Monroe Country schoolteachers from which they may obtain lesson plans, request guest speakers from the community and examine other resources to help them teach these values in the classroom. Future projects include encouraging existing student groups in the schools to be involved in community service activities and promoting interaction and dialogue about difference with various student groups.