Select Page

Photo by Shawn McAffee of UW Oshkosh Learning Technologies

Assistant political science professor Dr. Tracy Hoffmann Slagter can be described as having one of the most positive, bubbly personalities of any faculty or staff member on campus. Of course, it’s only fitting that she teaches a course one of the most depressing, horrible topics on the planet: genocide.

Political Science 373: Comparative Genocide is a study of what qualifies as genocide, a mild study of historical genocides but above all an education to students on how to stop and prevent current and future genocides.

“There’s enough hatred to go around in this world that if we ignore these tragedies as they unfold elsewhere, we do so at our own peril,” Slagter says.

One of the most unique parts of the class is the mock trial that students put on at the end of the semester. The class is divided into three groups: One represents the prosecution, one represents the defense and the other one serves as the judges who ultimately rule on the case.

Read the full story and listen to the podcasts at College of Letters and Science Special Reports.

Setting the Course is a series of podcasts in which instructors in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh describe a favorite course they love to teach and what they hope their students would take away from that course.