With Trump’s official announcement of his vice-presidential running mate expected for Friday morning and the Republican National Convention kicking off on Monday, this next week is apt to get people talking, yet again, about the 2016 US election–an election cycle that is unquestionably unlike anything we’ve seen in recent history.

A forum for this kind of discussion is exactly what instructor Janni Aragon had in mind when she developed the “2016 US Election: an Election Cycle Like No Other” series of three courses running this fall through Continuing Studies at the University of Victoria.

“This election cycle truly has been like no other. People want to talk about it–and there is so much to talk about. So I developed this course as an opportunity for people to get together and participate in thoughtful discussion and examine some of the bigger picture outcomes of this election,” says Aragon.

The first session, “The Conventions and More,” takes place on September 20, and Aragon will be pulling from the events of upcoming weeks as the basis for this discussion.

While Aragon jokes that she “needs a chocolate hat to eat” for all the times her predictions (along with so many others) about this race have been wrong so far, she is confident in what we can expect from next week’s Republican convention.

“The RNC will be a moment of promises, wishful thinking, and a look back at the way things used to be and how we can return to this time with a Republican president in the White House.” She goes on to say, “Make no mistake: both conventions [the Democratic National Convention begins July 25] will be political performances rife with platitudes and condemnations of the other party.”

The final two sessions in the series, entitled, “Consequences for US Politics and Canadian Politics” (Oct. 18) and “The Election is Over, Now What?” (Nov. 15) will be looking ahead to the greater ramifications of this highly controversial and divisive election.

Co-facilitators in this series include: Mark Brennae and Josh Hylden, both with CFAX; Rachel Cleves and Jason Colby, from the Department of History, UVic; and Michael Prince, PhD, Lansdowne Professor of Social Policy, UVic.

Janni Aragon, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at UVic, the Director of Technology Integrated Learning at UVic, as well as an instructor in the Division of Continuing Studies at UVic.

 

The Division of Continuing Studies has been an integral part of the University of Victoria since its inception in 1963. Today, Continuing Studies at UVic provides adult and continuing education programming in co-operation with UVic faculties and community partners. We offer a comprehensive portfolio of programs in a range of academic disciplines, using diploma, certificate, degree and other programming models to serve adult, part-time, international and geographically dispersed students.

• Posted July 14, 2016