UNITED STATES—Washington and Lee University (WLU), a top-ranked private institution in Lexington, Virginia, is offering a course called “How to overthrow the state” for undergraduates this fall semester.
According to course information on WLU’s website, the full title of the course is “Writing Seminar for First-Years: How to Overthrow the State.” The 3-credit course will be taught by Robert M. (Matt) Gildner. The course is under the “Appropriate for First-Year Students”(AFY) category. It requires the students to write at least three revised essays and completing exercises emphasizing writing as a process.
“This course places each student at the head of a popular revolutionary movement aiming to overthrow a sitting government and forge a better society. How will you attain power? How will you communicate with the masses? How do you plan on improving the lives of the people? How will you deal with the past? From Franz Fanon to Che Guevara to Mohamed Ghandi and others, we explore examples of revolutionary thought and action from across the Global South. Students engage these texts by participating in a variety of writing exercises, such as producing a Manifesto, drafting a white paper that critically analyzes a particular issue, and writing a persuasive essay on rewriting history and confronting memory,” reads a statement of the course description.
The expected capacity for the course is 16 people. The class is scheduled to meet on Mondays and Wednesdays. The information sheet notes that the class will be meeting in person on Wednesdays only. Other meetings will be remote.
The syllabus of the course and information about textbooks has not been released.
