UNIVERSITY PARK -- Donald Trump can be called a number of things: business tycoon, real estate magnate, and of course, the Republican presidential nominee.
Now, he can also be called a college course.
Penn State University is currently offering a one-credit course on Donald Trump.
It's not unusual that the discussion in this college class was about the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, since their highly anticipated face off the night before drew a record viewing audience.
“Who got the best zinger? Who had the most important unscripted moment?” asked an instructor.
What is unusual is that this is a class completely devoted to the Republican presidential nominee.
The university's McCourtney Institute for Democracy is currently offering this one credit course called “Trump.”
“He is clearly generating a great deal of support doing things that you never thought a candidate could get away with. But also he does talk about things that really raise questions about democratic politics,” said Dr. Michael Berkman, the director of the McCourtney Institute.
“Why is this man able to run a campaign that is so completely different and so unorthodox and yet resonate so strongly with tens of millions of people?” asked Dr. Christopher Beem, the managing director of the McCourtney Institute.
Students have been meeting every Tuesday night for two hours since September 13 and are asked to analyze Trump's campaign, the current democratic process, as well as the history of the process and previous presidential candidates.
“Trying to understand what makes him so popular and what makes him different really from any other candidate in history, I mean there's been populist candidates throughout our whole history as a country,” said senior David Smith.
The course runs through November 15, a week after Election Day.
Dr. Beem says that last class is sure to generate great conversation.
“Obviously if he wins, what is it going to mean for government and for the relationship between government and citizens going forward?” asked Beem. “If he loses, then what happens to the Republican party? What happens to the people who felt so alienated and were his strongest supporters? Where are they going to go?”
The Institute is using the Trump course as a pilot to see if students are interested in taking a class on short, contemporary topics on a regular basis.
