Gender, politics topics of talk

By Matt Keyser
Staff Writer

Hilary Clinton didn’t appear at North Lake College this semester, but she managed to dominate a panel discussion on gender and politics.

Students and faculty focused much attention on next year’s presidential election and Clinton’s candidacy.

“We guys are going to have to start learning how to say ma’am,” said sociology instructor Paul Magee.

But a quick show of hands among about 60 students showed that a majority would vote against Clinton.

“She shows no emotion,” one student said. “Whenever you see her on TV, her face is a stone.”

Another student, though, said Clinton’s previous experience in Washington would become valuable if she were elected president.

Ivan Dole, a developmental reading instructor, urged people not to permit sexual stereotypes to cloud their thinking.

“Women give birth to babies,” Dole said. “Men don’t. Girls are weak. Boys are tough.”

The first two statements are sexual facts, Dole noted. The second pair are nothing more than gender bias.

At one point, the discussion reached past gender issues to mix politics with religion.

Should politicians’ religious views determine whether they are elected to office?

Magee said that should not be the case.

“It doesn’t matter what a politician’s faith is, as long as he or she can run the government,” Magee said. “When you’re about to go in for open-heart surgery, you aren’t going to ask: ‘How often do you go to church?’ You’re going to ask: ‘How many times have you done this,’ and ‘How many deaths?’”

One student was curious about Magee’s position.

“How is it possible to take the religion out of politics?” that student asked. “When a senator makes a vote on a bill, isn’t somewhere, deep down, their religious views helping with that decision?”

Christan Amundsen, who teaches psychology, religion and sociology, urged students to come to future North Lake symposiums on other topics. He said they are a great opportunity for students to voice their opinions about current world events.

“We do this to raise discussion, not to force beliefs on each other,” Amundsen said.