As twilight settled over SF State and the flow of people across campus slowed to a trickle, a medley of students seated themselves in the Humanities Auditorium Sept. 27.

These 50 or more students sat waiting for this semester’s BSS 275 course, titled “California: The Promise vs. the Reality in the 2006 Election,” to begin.

As soon as the panelists organized themselves onstage, and the echoes of whispers and shuffled papers from the audience quieted, Joel Kassiola, dean of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, welcomed the class and introduced the evening’s discussion point.

Since 2003, the college of BSS has offered a broad-themed course with weekly rotating topics and a panelist-based discussion for both registered and drop-in students. While this semester’s theme focuses on the Nov. 7 local, state and national elections, past classes have explored ideas of social justice and social change, and the 2004 presidential elections.

As many as 18 different SF State departments are represented in this semester’s pool of 34 scheduled panelists, and former Senator John Burton spoke in the third week of class.

Many of this semester’s attendees said the structure of the class provides them with a deeper understanding of California history and politics through the variety of perspectives presented by these panelists.

Past discussions have honed in on topics such as recent California history, Republican and Democratic visions, the history of California's economy and the history of California demographics.

“I think it’s worthwhile. They cover some issues that they don’t cover as in-depth in the newspaper,” said SF State chemistry major Robert Theis, 30. “It feels like when you read the newspaper you just get a sound bite, but here they go over the topics.”

Theis’ classmate, John McDonald, 38, an SF State liberal studies major, agreed with Theis that this semester’s class provides students with relevant information so they can make informed decisions at the ballots.

“It shows you that you can make a difference, that your vote does count,” McDonald said. “The main thing is knowing what’s going on before you do vote.”

According to Kathryn Johnson, coordinator of special projects for the college of BSS and co-facilitator alongside Kassiola, one goal of the class is to show students their studies are applicable to real life.

“It’s the idea of raising these issues in a way that is relevant to their studies,” Johnson said.

Johnson also explained that the course helps students to identify their own political beliefs.

“It’s kind of a reflective course that takes you from the personal to the political,” she said.

For some of the panelists who participate in the weekly discussions, it’s hard to see the impact of their cumulative work.

“It’s difficult to say if it changed their views,” said History Professor Abdiel Onate, a panelist from a class dedicated to California history and demographics. “But one thing is clear: that they are better informed, that they have different perspectives on the same problems.”

For some students, these “different perspectives” apply to real life not only in a political sphere, but in other ways as well.

Pat Sullivan, 48, a daycare teacher and SF State master’s student of early childhood education, has taken her class experiences and brought them to a much younger generation.

“In part because of my involvement in the class, (my preschoolers and I) decided to talk about the empowerment of voting,” Sullivan said.

Although most of her students aspire to be Superman, Sullivan said that they now know, “When they grow up, they’ll have the power to vote and that’s pretty strong.”

Sullivan also agreed with Johnson that the various topics and perspectives covered in class gives real life meaning to her other studies.

“I think that all this stuff, that this history, ethics and psychology has a real-life application to the outside world. As students we sometimes forget that’s why we’re studying,” Sullivan said.

The class is not without its sagging eyelids and nodding heads, but many of the students agree with Dean Kassiola’s statement that the course has been a grand success.

“It is really exciting because it makes me appreciate SF State so much more,” Sullivan said.

Come election night, BSS 275 will host a pizza party open to the public in Jack Adams Hall with a live analysis of the results performed by Political Science Professor Francis Neely. The class will continue past the elections with discussions on the history of social change in California and the potential impact of the results of this year's elections.

All classes are open to the public and take place Wednesday evenings from 7:15-8:55 in Humanities 133. A complete copy of this semester's BSS 275 class schedule and featured panelists is available at www.bss.sfsu.edu/bss/.