Due:  Monday, November 25

Assignment:
Write a 5-8 page, double-spaced report of your first-hand observations of a local government meeting.

Examples of appropriate governmental bodies include:

• a city council/commission meeting
• a meeting of the county commissioners court
• a zoning or planning commission meeting
• a school board meeting
• a meeting of the board of regents of a public university, public college, or community or junior college
• a meeting of the hospital district
• a meeting of the water district
• a meeting of the noxious weed district (a personal favorite).

• any meeting that was held prior to August 26, 2002
• any form of student meeting (i.e., Student Senate, fraternity/sorority chapter meeting, etc.)
• any type of on-campus debate or political forum.

Plan ahead.  Many local government meetings occur only once or twice a month.  You can usually find information about local meetings in your local newspaper.  The Amarillo paper typically prints a list of upcoming meetings in the Sunday paper.  You can also call a local government and find out when the meetings are and where they are held.

Hint:
The ideal report includes a record of all verbal and nonverbal interactions among all persons present, does not have spelling or grammatical errors, and includes among others, the following items:

• the time, date, and place of your fieldwork
• a description of the physical layout of the room or meeting place and the presence of any political symbols such as flags, seals, etc.
• information on all formal decisions and the procedures, if any, that were followed
• a summary of all statements made by the speakers, noting their attitude or ideology and their tone (i.e., formal, hostile, liberal, conservative, etc.)
• information on the speakers' personal behaviors and styles (appearance, age, race, and gender)
• a summary of any actions taken and the procedures, if any, that were followed to reach a decision
• an analysis of the range of decisions made, the kind of language used, references to political groups, the requirements of the law, or to other governmental bodies, and the appearance of consensus or discord
• a comparison of the observation to class material and related resources
• a comparison of the different governmental bodies observed by the group members (this is REAL political science)
• a general critique of the observed activity's overall political or policy implications (for example, did the observed officials represent or act on behalf of the general public or on behalf of a particular group, did they take into account the speaker's presentation or did they ignore it?)