LAMC Department of Political Science Policy Regarding Political Representatives Visiting Political Science Classrooms
The guidelines below are based on two premises as follows:
· This policy strictly adheres to the rules and regulations established by the California Education Code on Political Activity in the Classroom. Per these regulations, activities related directly to political campaigns are forbidden nor may college resources be utilized to endorse campaign activities or political candidates.
· Los Angeles Mission College and individual faculty members do not endorse or favor any political official, candidate, or ideology over another.
The following are the rules instituted by faculty members of the Department of Political Science, and these rules apply to all full and part-time instructors. Visitors must honor these rules in order to gain access to any classroom. However, per the guidelines below, access to any classroom is at the sole discretion of the individual instructor.
1. Class time may not be used for campaign activities. The content of the presentations must be relevant to the course content and geared towards meeting the student learning outcomes contained in the official course outline on record.
2. Each instructor will have the option to make a decision whether to invite speakers into their classrooms and give equal time to a variety of perspectives.
3. Before a speaker comes into the classroom, it is the responsibility of that instructor to go over the guidelines of what can and cannot be discussed with our students.
4. All speakers invited inside a classroom must contact instructor ahead of time (minimum 24 hours notice).
5. All speakers will be instructed that handouts or other materials cannot be distributed to students. A website or phone number can be written on the board as a courtesy.
6. Speakers will be given 5-10 minutes to present at the end of class to avoid going over time.
7. Guests representing different perspectives on an issue will receive the same amount of time without bias by the instructor for one platform over another.
8. Internships in all Political Science classes are optional and may be used to offer an extra credit project and instructors will include on their syllabus that students have a choice of where to complete such internships. Instructors may not restrict students to internships representing one political viewpoint.
