In his final year of graduate school, Brian Bogart has spent 30 hours protesting across from Johnson Hall and zero hours inside the classroom.
He will not meet the course syllabus requirements in his Political Science 540 class, but he will still receive credit toward his peace studies master’s degree.
Although volunteers are recording lectures for him and he is meeting with his professor outside of class, he plans not to attend any of his three classes.
Instead he’ll be spending five hours a day for the next nine months protesting the U.S. government’s military priorities and the research contracts between the University and U.S. military agencies, as part of a national “Camp U.S. Strike for Peace” campaign.
“I don’t have to attend the classes because I’m keeping up outside of (them),” Bogart said. “What I’m doing outside the classroom is sufficient to fulfill the requirements of that course.”
University officials debate whether Bogart should receive credit for not attending class and whether the syllabus or the professor’s requirements have authority.
This term, Bogart, the University’s only peace studies graduate student, is enrolled in The Causes and Prevention of War with assistant professor Jane Cramer. For graduates, 35 percent of the grade is class participation and 20 percent is from the in-class final exam, according to the syllabus. Bogart and Cramer worked out a plan to make up for missed lectures and substitute the 55 percent of the grade that he will miss by writing a longer research paper (25-to-30 pages instead of 20-to-25), which consists of 45 percent of the grade for graduates.
Bogart has two other courses he hopes to get credit for without attending class, but has yet to meet with the professors, he said.
Cramer, Bogart’s professor, said that his previous research, current research project and national peace campaign make up for whatever lectures he will miss.
“He has more background than all the other graduate students combined,” Cramer said.
All graduate students do their own research and attend the lectures that pertain to their projects, she said.
“Most of graduate school is just an independent research project,” she said.
But Associate Dean of the Graduate School Marian Friestad said the course syllabus, which is approved by the Committee on Courses before the class begins, represents the course requirements.
“In order to get credit they must satisfactorily fulfill all requirements of the class,” Friestad said.
As a professor, she would advise students against enrolling in a course if they knew beforehand that they wouldn’t be able to fulfill the syllabus requirements, Friestad said.
Richard Linton, vice president for research and graduate studies, wrote in an e-mail that students must “meet course requirements to the satisfaction of the instructor of record” to earn credit toward a degree.
“Credits earned for research, internships, or field work are examples of activities that may not require formal ‘in-class’ attendance because the work is generally done independently under the supervision of a faculty mentor,” Linton wrote.
Bogart’s advisor, philosophy professor Cheyney Ryan, said it is up to the instructor how to grade students and how much credit to give them.
“The reality is courses are changed all the time and it’s not required to resubmit the syllabi” to the Committee on Courses, Ryan said.
Bogart said it’s exhausting to do outreach for five hours a day discussing his three years of research and 15 years of personal experience in the defense industry.
“On top of that I go home and study, do a national campaign, and I also like to read as much as possible,” he said. “I would say that this is harder than any course I’ve ever had in my life.”

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