Spring Break
Things I've Learned, with Professor Matthew Crenson
Issue date: 4/24/08
Matthew Crenson lived through the aftermath of the Baltimore race riots, the Vietnam War and the Cold War, and he has shared his experiences in the classroom.
The political science professor first studied at the University, then later returned to Baltimore during the tumultuous Vietnam era.
After almost four decades of teaching, where he helped create a popular City Council internship program and did extensive studies of local neighborhoods, Crenson is set to retire.
He spoke to the News-Letter about the changes he has seen in students over the many years.
News-Letter (N-L): Were you on campus during the Baltimore riots in 1968?
Matthew Crenson (MC): I was actually at Brookings at the time - I came back to Hopkins to teach in 1969. I did my undergrad here from 1959 to 1963, then I had my first teaching job at MIT, then I was at Brookings, where I did my dissertation.
My specialty is urban politics, so when I was at MIT, because of the interests of the students, not many students were involved in political science.
But the first time I walked into a classroom here in 1969, over 100 students were in the class. I was shocked. I had no TAs and had to do all of the grading myself.
Later that year, the on-campus focus shifted from cities to Vietnam. In the spring, there was a strike, and many students walked out and occupied Charles Street. Police courted the area off and they let students blow off their steam and come back.
N-L: Was that when things started to heat up on campus politically?
MC: That year was really just terrible. Martin Luther King was assassinated, the war, the Kent State shootings - a lot of American history packed into one year. There was a real upsurge in student interest in politics, and the issues were sort of global in scale. It wasn't just Vietnam - race was a major issue in the country.
N-L: So would you say that the riots localized a larger issue?
The political science professor first studied at the University, then later returned to Baltimore during the tumultuous Vietnam era.
After almost four decades of teaching, where he helped create a popular City Council internship program and did extensive studies of local neighborhoods, Crenson is set to retire.
He spoke to the News-Letter about the changes he has seen in students over the many years.
News-Letter (N-L): Were you on campus during the Baltimore riots in 1968?
Matthew Crenson (MC): I was actually at Brookings at the time - I came back to Hopkins to teach in 1969. I did my undergrad here from 1959 to 1963, then I had my first teaching job at MIT, then I was at Brookings, where I did my dissertation.
My specialty is urban politics, so when I was at MIT, because of the interests of the students, not many students were involved in political science.
But the first time I walked into a classroom here in 1969, over 100 students were in the class. I was shocked. I had no TAs and had to do all of the grading myself.
Later that year, the on-campus focus shifted from cities to Vietnam. In the spring, there was a strike, and many students walked out and occupied Charles Street. Police courted the area off and they let students blow off their steam and come back.
N-L: Was that when things started to heat up on campus politically?
MC: That year was really just terrible. Martin Luther King was assassinated, the war, the Kent State shootings - a lot of American history packed into one year. There was a real upsurge in student interest in politics, and the issues were sort of global in scale. It wasn't just Vietnam - race was a major issue in the country.
N-L: So would you say that the riots localized a larger issue?
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