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Sabbatical Leave Proposal, Allen Hartter

Sabbaticals

I wish to study the teaching of participatory democracy in entry level political science courses - Introduction to Political Science and American National Government. I believe that many Americans are distrustful of their elected leaders and cynical toward their governmental institutions. Signs of this malaise are declining voter turnouts, the success of negative campaigning ads, and the low level of discourse on talk radio shows. These conditions, if lasting, undermine democratic government's reliance on citizen participation.

Faculty who teach political science in the most democratic of higher learning institutions, the community colleges, should, I feel, analyze these factors to determine …