Eastern Illinois University has approved a new political campaigning minor that will be offered starting in the fall semester with the help of three departments.

John Morris, a professor in the political science department, led the effort to establish the minor after the success of his political campaigning class last semester.

“I want to help develop students that will go out and be public servants and make this a better world,” he said.

Karen Swenson, the chair for the political science department, said 25 people enrolled in the political campaigning class.

“Mr. Morris brought in more than ten external speakers, and the class enrolled pretty well,” she said. “It turns out Mr. Morris wanted to do more than just launch a new course; he wanted to launch a whole minor.”

Morris said it was a group effort between three departments to create the curriculum for the minor: political science, the school of communication and journalism, and theatre.

Morris said adding the theatre department into the mix set the program apart from others like it.

“Ball State University, Fairfield University in Connecticut, Ohio State University, University of North Florida and Portland State University offer campaigning minors of different measures,” he said. “Their course curriculum is primarily communications and political science. What sets us apart is that we’ve added theatre.”

Morris said theatre was necessary to include in the minor because politics is essentially theatre.

“It will teach you how to articulate, give you confidence and a strong stage presence. What is key in campaigning is being able to read your audience and shift gears to get their attention,” he said. “Theatre is indispensable in becoming a robust public speaker.”

Swenson said she was unsure about including theatre at first before coming around to the idea.

“I was skeptical because I thought, ‘Well that’s art and entertainment,’ but when I went with Mr. Morris to talk to the chair of the theatre department, it helped me understand that successful campaigning is theatre,” she said.

The minor was approved by the Council on Academic Affairs on Feb. 19, according to the proposal document by Morris.

According to the political science department’s website, the minor will require students to obtain 6 credit hours from each of the three participating departments for a total of 18 credit hours.

Swenson said the CAA was receptive to the idea of a political campaigning minor.

“The CAA can ask a lot of tough questions, and they can send you back your proposal to redraft it, but not with this minor,” she said. “Mr. Morris made a presentation of the minor, and people seemed somewhat spellbound on the committee. It passed unanimously.”

Swenson said the minor will expand into Morris’s former professional field of campaign management.

“Up until recently he’s only been teaching 1153G American Government and the Constitution,” Swenson said. “It’s exciting to see him branch off in a different direction than just that class and do something more focused on his professional and academic interest.”

Swenson said the minor will be important for recruitment to the political science department.

“It will help political science majors tie what they learn in the classroom to something practical and hopefully bring in some students from theatre and communications that might not have thought about political science,” she said.

Andrea Jimenez can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].