{"id":7150,"date":"2018-04-12T16:20:52","date_gmt":"2018-04-12T20:20:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/news\/?p=7150"},"modified":"2018-04-12T16:49:45","modified_gmt":"2018-04-12T20:49:45","slug":"elizabethtown-college-professors-contribute-to-informed-discussion-through-editorials-op-eds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/2018\/04\/12\/elizabethtown-college-professors-contribute-to-informed-discussion-through-editorials-op-eds\/","title":{"rendered":"Elizabethtown College professors contribute to informed discussion through editorials, op-eds"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In a time of rampant social media rants, anyone with a strong opinion can claim to be an expert, especially in politics.<\/p>\n

Online tirades, it seems, have given informed opinion a bad rap.<\/p>\n

Though internet trolls will likely continue to abound, there remains a legitimate channel for informed discussion. Op-eds, opinion columns, editorials and blogs are outlets for informed debate and a balanced presentation of researched opinion.<\/p>\n

Kyle Kopko, associate professor of political science at Elizabethtown College and director of the Pre-Law Program, said that even the term op-ed is uncomfortable for him when he writes as a scholar. \u201cOp-eds are not really an opinion but a scholarly conclusion,\u201d he said. When political scientists write an editorial, they \u201ctranslate a body of literature and scholarship so that those who are not political scientists can understand the information and why it\u2019s important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scholarly editorials, he said, make policy statements only if there is solid empirical evidence and the research is well documented.<\/p>\n

\n

When editors know you can write for a broader audience and can do so in a clear manner there is a demand.\u201d<\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a>In addition to writing editorials, op-eds and blogs, Kopko and co-writer Christopher J. Devine wrote \u201cThe VP Advantage,\u201d a book about how running mates influence home-state voting. After its publication, he said, his writing was in demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen editors know you can write for a broader audience and can do so in a clear manner there is a demand,\u201d he said. Kopko has written for or had pieces picked up by LNP, Politico, FiveThirtyEight and Time magazine, among others. He\u2019s written solo and has shared his byline with his co-author and Elizabethtown College students.<\/p>\n

Writing, he said, is why tenure exists. \u201cIt gives academic freedom; it\u2019s meant to be a protection for researchers to pursue truth at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kopko and other regular editorial writers at Elizabethtown\u2014Fletcher McClellan, April Kelly-Woessner and Rick Fellinger\u2014said they have no hesitation about writing and sharing their thoughts on controversial subjects. Instead, they said, opinion pieces are a responsibility to inform the public of researched opinion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Fellinger, a Fellow in the College\u2019s Writing Wing for the past eight years, said he uses his op-eds as a means of teaching his students the format of argumentative writing.<\/p>\n

Opinion pieces\u2014no matter their venue\u2014differ from social media postings by the quality of writing and the depth of research, he said. \u201cThey are more structured. There is a beginning, a middle, an ending and research that supports my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellinger, a former political reporter who still has an interest in government and political issues, said it\u2019s important to get his thoughts and opinions out there, beyond social media. \u201cI prefer it the old fashioned way. I put time and research into it and I\u2019m edited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though he’s careful about how he talks politics in the classroom, Fellinger tells his students that opinion is healthy as long as they are respectful and thoughtful. He said he uses his own columns to show quality editorial writing\u2014how to use supporting quotes, how to use a certain tone. \u201cGood writing is thinking,\u201d he said; \u201cgood writing contributes to a marketplace of ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kelly-Woessner, professor of political science and department chair, has contributed to this marketplace of ideas for many years. The LNP columnist, who also has been featured in the Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Chronicle of Higher Education, said she sees fake news as an increasing problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudies show that even trained fact checkers can struggle to tell real news from fake news,\u201d she said. \u201cIn an environment filled with misinformation, academics have a social responsibility to fairly and objectively help people understand the issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kelly-Woessner recently spoke on \u201cThe Role of the Public Intellectual in the Era of Fake News, Misinformation and Partisan Bias,\u201d in which she encouraged other Elizabethtown College professors to \u201cgo public\u201d with their research findings. She urged them to disseminate knowledge, for the public good, outside of their academic disciplines.<\/p>\n

\u201c[My writing] is far more than an opinion,\u201d she said of her editorials. \u201cIf professors write from an opinion basis, I think they are just pushing liberal objectives. We must be careful that our arguments are based in evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The writing also needs to be consumable and understood by the general public. As a scholar, she said, she has a duty to share knowledge with a broader audience, even though some of her readers take offense to what\u2019s being shared. \u201cYou can\u2019t please everyone all of the time, but you can certainly make everyone mad,\u201d she said, chuckling. \u201cWhen that happens, you know you\u2019ve been objective and fair.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \u201cWhen I have an idea, I want to share what political science has to say about the topic,\u201d said McClellan, professor of political science, whose interest in politics stems from coming of age in the late 1960s and early 1970s\u2014civil rights, Vietnam, social movements. \u201cI grew up conservative. \u2026 My parents talked about politics; there always was a newspaper to read.\u201d This awareness, he said, carried over to college. He flirted with other majors, he said, but politics was always present.<\/p>\n

McClellan said he\u2019s been writing editorials for years, especially for the Harrisburg Patriot News, now PennLive. Interest and frequency picked up considerably in 2016 with the presidential election, he noted. \u201cI was contacted by [opinion editor] John Micek who suggested several op-eds about the campaign.\u201d Now, McClellan said, his submissions are more or less biweekly. They are mostly political, he said, but sometimes \u201cwander off into popular culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do some pretty deep research. It helps me see what my own views are. What I really think. \u2026,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes I surprise myself, starting in one direction but ending up heading in another.\u201d<\/p>\n

McClellan said his writing serves two purposes: to inform the public debate and as an outlet to express his views.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of each semester, McClellan said, he debriefs his students about his political views, explaining that, first and foremost, he\u2019s a teacher who is interested in their education. \u201cI tell them, it will be hard to hide, from you, my beliefs as a citizen, but it won\u2019t influence how I work with you.\u201d He has been the advisor of the College Democrats for the past 30 years.<\/p>\n

Writing op-eds, McClellan said, helped his own scholarship, writing papers that came from research of op-eds. He wonders aloud if op-eds are their own scholarship or a service to the community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a time of rampant social media rants, anyone with a strong opinion can claim to be an expert, especially in politics. Online tirades, it seems, have given informed opinion a bad rap. Though internet trolls will likely continue to abound, there remains a legitimate channel for informed discussion. Op-eds, opinion columns, editorials and blogs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":7156,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,764],"tags":[490,1128,436,1144],"class_list":["post-7150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-real-world-learning","category-research-and-academics","tag-achievements-2","tag-feature","tag-politics","tag-writing-program","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7150"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7180,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7150\/revisions\/7180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.etown.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}