Sitting around in a circle last Tuesday night, students in African and African-American Studies 496: Civil Disobedience: Social Justice and Personal Action listened to a CD with often explicit lyrics of popular hip-hop artists. Afterwards, students' tempers sometimes flared as they debated the stereotypes portrayed in the lyrics.

"We truly have free speech in this class," said Angie Crum (senior-psychology) about one of the reasons she enjoys the class.

Through a variety of readings, movies and discussions in class, students learn about social justice issues, said Erik Malewski, instructor of the class. Malewski chooses readings that are from people who lived out what they wrote about. Readings and discussions stress the importance of involvement at the grassroots level. "The class takes a lot of different directions so the syllabus is very general," he said.

Crum said she felt overwhelmed with the class content in the beginning of the semester. "It makes you question every single thing in the entire world. The way we're taught to think is a white supremacist, capitalist and patriarchy way of thinking," she said.

The seminar style class forces students to take a leadership role in various circumstances. "If people leave the class with critical thinking skills they can share with other people and change the injustices of the world, the class will be fulfilling," Malewski said.

Students learn to become critical thinkers when they submit journal entries about the week's readings via e-mail to Malewski. Each week, two students lead the class discussions based upon these responses.

Students are also required to perform action research projects. These projects stress "making a more just culture either within the university or surrounding community," according to the syllabus. "Students don't just go into the community and observe," Malewski said.

Christopher Waters (senior-psychology) said that for his project he intends to create an ethnic and racial committee at Penn State. The committee will discuss racialproblems. "It will keep the issue in the forefront," he said.

The project is worth the largest percentage in the course's grading process. There are no tests in this class.

Since class discussions are about sensitive topics like race, gender and sexual orientation, Malewski establishes ground rules for students to follow. "I" statements are encouraged as opposed to "you" statements which attack others' beliefs. He wants students to speak respectfully but not be politically correct.

"Students should have passionate honesty," he said of students interested in enrolling in the class.

Sharing speaking time is also important, Malewski said.

"Some people are quiet so I call on them to share ideas. They may think (the ideas) are unpopular, but I want them to talk to me about differences not sameness, " he said.

This semester there is one section of AAA S 496. The class is offered during the spring semesters and is controlled. To sign up, students must contact Malewski and set up an interview. Students must receive approval from their advisers for the class to fulfill the university diversity requirement.

Kenji Darby (senior-African American studies and English) suggested the class could improve students' education if it had a larger scope. "Make it mandatory for all people to take," he said.

Maleswski has been teaching the class since spring 1997. "I couldn't think of anyone else who could teach a class like this," Waters said.

Kimberly Smith (junior-psychology) agrees with her classmate. "He's cool. He respects opinions and give people a chance to voice their opinions," she said. Although it is a 400 level class, freshmen and sophomores may enroll if they are interested.

Malewski cautions younger students about the class rigors. "It's very advanced. Freshmen are going to need a dictionary to do the readings," he said.

Darby said the class has exceeded his expectations. "It's global. It cuts across class lines, racial lines and gender differences. Overall, we become one family," he said.

Taking the class has changed his opinions about government and media. "There's a lot of propaganda in government and hypocrisy on a global scale," he said. "The media is poison and opinionated," he added.

Smith said she took the class because it was about current issues. "I wanted to learn something about society itself, not about history and old facts," she said.

Smith said the class has made her think deeply about certain topics, including animal rights. "We talked about how we threaten animals. I'm now more conscious about what I eat and have cut down on beef intake," she said.

Darby enrolled in the class because he wanted to become more involved in his community. "I felt that I was stagnant. I hoped this class would make me proactive rather than reactive."

Malewski said students who have taken the class are changed. "They take on leadership roles on campus. Sometimes people's career paths change," he said. "A paycheck is no longer the most fulfilling thing in life," he said