Back in the Classroom Again

Back in the Classroom Again

President Kermit L. Hall feels strongly about teaching — so strongly that he believes campus administrators should be at the head of a classroom at least once a year. Practicing what he preaches, President Hall is back in the classroom this fall teaching a constitutional history course.

The class meets once a week around the large conference table in Old Main just off the president's office. Nineteen students, all history and political science majors, gather in this non-traditional setting that looks more like a corporate board room than a classroom.

Entering the room on the second meeting, President Hall jokingly presented a "motion to illuminate" as he turned on a bank of light switches. "After all," he quipped, "we are here to be illuminated." Following a quick roll call the class began a review of two court cases. As the discussion opened, President Hall told the students that class discussions were a great opportunity to "poke and prod your colleagues."

The students, for the most part, seem comfortable in the classroom setting, although somewhat apprehensive about the amount of reading and number of textbooks they'll have to tackle over the course of the semester.

"I think it's a cool opportunity to take a class from the university president," said junior Marcus Stevens, a history major. "That doesn't happen very often."