Spring 2027

Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States

Introduction to race and ethnic politics in the U.S., examining mutual influence between race/ethnicity and the political system.

offering recorded3–4 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Marty Davidson3.6/5

Summary

1 / 5

Past student reviews · Marty Davidson

The class was term-heavy and repetitive, though students noted that the material became more interesting toward the end of the year.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
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AB
B
BC
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

POLI SCI 104,LEGAL ST/​POLI SCI 217,CHICLA 201, or AFROAMER 151

POLISCI 304

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.50/5 from 4 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Marty Davidson

Marty Davidson taught a discussion-based course where students frequently presented material, and he was described as fair and willing to explain concepts. While some students found the class repetitive, term-heavy, and lacking clear grading rubrics or direct answers, others found it insightful and interesting. Exams were noted to be confusing, though Davidson accommodated common questions.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.71 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.52 GPA, 80.0% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.73 GPA, 89.8% A/AB (n=49 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Past student reviews · Benjamin Marquez

Benjamin Marquez, who previously taught the course, was described as caring and respectful during the 2020 pandemic. Students found the class difficult, requiring numerous long papers and reading several books, but appreciated his supportive approach.

BENJAMIN MARQUEZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2020, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MARTY DAVIDSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2024, Fall 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 510
DIS 302Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 303Classroom Instruction0 / 170
DIS 304Classroom Instruction0 / 170

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Marty Davidson

Professor Davidson taught an insightful and eye-opening course where students found the lectures interesting and gained significant value from the class.

Recent recorded grades — Fall 2024: 3.71 GPA, 88.0% A/AB (n=50 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.52 GPA, 80.0% A/AB (n=45 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.73 GPA, 89.8% A/AB (n=49 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Marty Davidson

The class was term-heavy and repetitive, though students noted that the material became more interesting toward the end of the year.

Past student reviews · Marty Davidson

One student found the readings outdated and criticized the daily presentation structure, noting that lectures lacked clear information on correct answers.

Topics

  • Definitions of race and ethnicity vs. other identities
  • Structure of political institutions by race and ethnicity
  • Reinforcement of societal notions by political institutions
  • Minority group use of institutions for policy goals
  • Societal response to minority policy goals

Skills

  • Basic definitions of race and ethnicity
  • Analysis of how societal notions of race and ethnicity structure political institutions
  • Understanding how minority groups use political institutions for policy goals

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
POLISCI 304 · Spring 2027

Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:778:015946",
    "course_id": "POLISCI 304",
    "course_uid": "course_ce2ecf7c5d366ebd00c93f21",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "015946",
    "source_subject_id": "778",
    "title": "Race and Ethnic Politics in the United States",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 4,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "f57dbccb5607507949d591590a43f72c775cf4fa8d52ab8208934abeb3dee014",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}