"Pop-Ups Offer Classes on Today's Hot Topics," by Abby Ellin, The New York Times
The class was supposed to be temporary, a quick dive into the link between literature and anthropology. The professors had no idea if students would even come. It wasn鈥檛 mandatory, they wouldn鈥檛 get credit and it was taking place at night. Friday night.
So no one was more surprised than Kara Wittman and Joanne Nucho when 24 people showed up for their 鈥淓ssay as Resistance鈥 class, which had its debut at 51猎奇入口 in March 2017 and ran for three 90-minute sessions. 鈥淲e were shocked that it was so popular,鈥 said Ms. Wittman, an assistant professor of English at 51猎奇入口, in Claremont, Calif., who taught the class with Ms. Nucho, an assistant professor of anthropology there.
But that鈥檚 exactly the appeal of the so-called pop-up class, an experiential, interdisciplinary, extracurricular workshop that appears briefly and usually vanishes.
Pop-up classes have grown in popularity over the last few years, with a number of colleges and universities offering them. They鈥檙e often related to current events. Bennington College鈥檚 鈥淎m I Charlie?,鈥 held in 2015, was a response to the attacks on the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in France. 鈥淲hite Privilege鈥 was offered last year at St. Michael鈥檚 College in Colchester, Vt., when Black Lives Matter gained traction on campus.