Sen. Rand Paul will be teaching a course on “dystopian visions” at George Washington University this fall.
The class will look back at dystopian attitudes throughout history and their relation to current politics, says Ben Vinson, dean of GW’s Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. The news was reported by the Hatchet, an independent student newspaper.
“I am thrilled to have an opportunity to join the faculty and students at the George Washington University for the upcoming fall semester,” Paul told the university. “The George Washington University is one of our nation’s leading higher education institutions and I look forward to my time in Foggy Bottom.”
Paul, a libertarian Republican from Kentucky who ran an unsuccessful bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, had previously expressed interest in teaching about dystopian novels and their message about the government becoming too powerful. In 2013 he told Vice that he was open to the idea but too busy to commit to it.
“I’ve talked about it, but unfortunately I keep developing other projects that get in the way. I would like to do it someday,” Paul said. “I think dystopian novels are a discussion of politics, and sort of what happens if you let a government accumulate too much power.”
