Brown University professor of Political Science, Ron Collins, woke up this morning thrilled for the opportunity to tell his Intro to Political Discourse class the etymology of the word “gerrymandering” for the third time this semester.
Since beginning his career at Brown University in 2004, Collins estimates he has explained the origins of the the political term, which refers to the practice of intentionally manipulating district boundaries in order to secure a political advantage, between 60 and 80 times.
“I know I already mentioned it in the first and fifth class of the semester, but I think it bears repeating in the ninth,” explained Collins. “I mean, come on, Governor Elbridge Gerry drawing a salamander-shaped district so he could keep Republicans in power in Massachusetts? It doesn’t get more riveting than that!”
Junior Nina Patel, a Political Science concentrator, has taken four courses with Professor Collins since starting at Brown. “He’s a really excellent professor, and a super kind man. But I know when I sign up for one of his classes I’ll have to sit through the ‘gerrymandering’ spiel at least once or twice. I think maybe he gets off on telling us.”
Fellow Political Science professor Janine Schloss concurred with Collins’ excitement, adding that she too always looked forward to sharing the tale in a lecture hall full of students.
“Look,” Schloss explained, “The math department has the irrationality of the square root of two, biology has the Mitochondria as the powerhouse of the cell, and English has queerbaiting Jane Austen. We have gerrymandering.”
image via Ari Brown