Amherst Boys Spark Campaigns For Progressive Politics Course

For the eighty Amherst men in Political Science 27, given only in the fall of election years, field work is the "core of the course." During the campaign period demands on their time are "almost limitless." They send out campaign literature, write speeches, and canvass door-to-door instead of reading about politics in textbooks.

Some get work in the understaffed rural headquarters where they often hold top jobs. One boy found himself managing the whole campaign of a local politician.

Others, who help groups like the C.I.O. Political Action Committee canvass workers in nearby textile mills, got to sit in on confidential strategy meetings of labor leaders, as they discuss the candidates.

Similar work is done for a course at Mount Holyoke. Both groups are part of a pool which is available to both Democrats and Republicans. Professor John C. Wahike '39 of Amherst and Professor Victoria Schuck of Mount Holyoke get calls almost daily for student aid.

Wahike, vice-president of the Amherst Democratic Committee, started the course two years ago because he regarded political courses based on "theoretical reading" as inadequate. He described his method as an "extension of the case study method," and said the only way to understand politics is to get "mixed up in it." He thought the main value of the course was giving students an idea of "how to accomplish things in politics."