Photo by Richard Howard

For decades, when Kay Lehman Schlozman ’68 teaches political parties and elections she tells her students, “We’re going to deal with political matters, and we’re going do it civilly,” she says. During her long tenure at Boston College—and her two semesters at Wellesley this year as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Political Science—those rules have held up.

Only once was that threatened, in 1992, when B.C. campus organizers brought Pat Buchanan’s “pugnacious style” into the classroom, she says. But, for the most part, in Schlozman’s classroom, Republicans and Democrats alike can have amicable, thought-provoking conversations about American politics.

Schlozman是世界上政治参与的领先政治学家之一，指导学生对美国政治制度的大问题引导。是否让我们担任我们的领导和缔约方负责？当政治声音不平等时会发生什么？在今年的Wellesley，Schlozman教授美国的女性，男人和政治和不平等和政治。明年，她返回她的职位，因为J.Joseph Moakley赋予了B.C的政治学教授。

Currently, “we’re in an era where political voice is much more deeply rooted in inequalities in the size of our wallets than it has been in the past,” Schlozman says. It’s a topic she explores in her most recent book,不平等和不陈旧的：政治不平等和人们在新镀金时期的声音。

A Chicago native, Schlozman first arrived at Wellesley 55 years ago as a first-year. She found herself drawn to questions about politics. During her junior year, a professor took her to lunch to plan her grad school studies. Schlozman was taken aback. “It was a time when it was much less common for women, even with an elite education, to have these kinds of aspirations,” she says.

She ended up earning her M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago. When she was hired as a political science professor by Boston College in 1974 at age 27, she was the department’s only woman.

现在,Schlozman是关注订单之间的差距litical voice are endangering American democracy. Well-educated and affluent people have a stronger voice than those with less money and education, she says. Campaign finance reform can help, “but as they say in Washington, ‘not going to happen,’” she says.

但是，我们可以采取小步骤。注册高中老年人可以让人们投票更有可能。“这不会彻底改变美国民主，”Schlozman说：“但是这样的调整就可以提供帮助。”