This class is great with Amy! She's super inclusive and understanding that students have lives outside of school. She was flexible with deadlines, and it was really easy to approach her for more time. She challenges the power dynamic of the classroom, which I really enjoyed. This class didn't have any tests, but we did have to write a few papers but they weren't too much. She connected the information from this class to what is happening present day, and it was super interesting learning about the political scenes of other countries. I would definitely take this class again and would recommend it to anyone looking for an easy class.

loved this class

This professor is by far the kindest, sweetest, most empathetic professor I have ever taken a class with. She's incredibly lenient with grades and doesn't believe in tests and super harsh deadlines. This class felt more like a safe space than a college lecture- she valued our personal wellbeing over absolutely everything else. Super easy GE that I would recommend to absolutely everyone.

I took this class during my first semester as a freshman while I was trying to figure out what major I wanted and I did not have a great experience. Amy is a really nice teacher and she covers some engaging topics in her lectures that deal with social justice but overall the class is not structured well. If you are taking this class for a GE then it is really easy, but if you are taking it to decide if pub aff is what you what to study I wouldn’t recommend this teacher. The class is structured where you do the reading before the class, then Amy does a lecture in class and then it opens into a full class discussion. The problem is the reading she assigns is basically useless and really dense. The reading can be like 50 pages and you sit there not retaining a single thing because the wording is so confusing. I once went to Amy and asked how I could better understand the reading and she that she even struggles with it and sometimes has to read it multiple times just to get the basic message. Like what, why would I want to do the reading if even you are struggling to understand it. Then there is the fact that we basically never got around to the lecture part of the class, she always let the discussions run on for too long, most of the time they got off topic and then it was the end of class before we could even cover 1/3 of the slides. That was a pain because like I said the reading was so confusing and her slides and lecture were the only things that somewhat helped me understand the purpose or what she wanted us to take from the reading. Many of my classmates that I talked to agreed that the purpose of this class as a whole was confusing because the reading is so disconnected from the lectures. The only thing you will ever use the reading for are the four or five essay type assignments you have to do, but even then you can literally read one page of the 40 page reading and be able to site it in your essay so even then the reading is basically useless. The essay assignments are the only thing you have to do in the class and they are only like one page long each until the last one(that got canceled for me because of the TA strike). Overall, easy GE but I wouldn’t take this class with her if you care about the material.

I enjoyed her class, she is really passionate about social change. The only problem is that she opens the floor for discussion during the lecture and you hear five people say the same thing, which can be annoying at times, but because of her teaching methods, she never cuts anyone off and everyone gets to speak. There is no textbook, but there are several weekly readings that are posted in modules. You are not required to complete all of them, but doing so will benefit you when you have to do the 2 essays. There is 1 project that you work with your section to complete. The last assignment is writing a policy paper but because of the strike she cancel it.

This class was so easy. We were definitely affected by the TA strikes, since Amy gave out an A+ to everyone, but definitely still easy. I was able to 100's on the only 2 essays we did with minimal reading. The lectures were interesting, but because Amy was open about hearing student voices, sometimes there were people who would just ramble on about mildly related topics. However, there were still lots of insightful thoughts shared by my classmates. A lot of the reading Amy assigned was also actually interesting. We had a few guest speakers and watched interesting documentaries/short films as well. The class was recorded, so you don't have to go. I had Mitra Belgiari as my TA, who was helpful and graded reasonably.
Breakdown of the class:
Reflexive essay (Module 1) 20% - this and #2 were both easy, you just quote readings (Amy puts relevant quotes in the slides too) and add some of your own thoughts and you're good
Reflexive essay (Module 2) 20%
Research Memo on Activist Organization (Module 3) 20% - we didn't get to this and the policy memo, but they're both supposed to be pretty short
Policy Memo (Module 3) 20%
Participation (In-class pop quizzes, Short Assignments and Participation in Discussion Section with Learning Advocates) 20%

Amy is one of the most kind and thoughtful professors I have ever had. She had so much amazing insight into social movements and was really great. There are few assignments for this class and the workload is very manageable. There are also no tests and it is mainly short papers and a group assignment. Highly recommend this class.

Amazing class. Professor Ritterbusch does an amazing job making the class both interesting and engaging. The class is an easy A. All you need to do is submit the essays which are all basically opinion based and everyone gets an A on. Other than that there are a few required readings each week but they are actually really interesting. Attendance to lecture isn't mandatory and is uploaded to Bruincast.

Prof. Ritterbusch is a gem and truly cares about students and her class. This class was super fun & very community-focused. A great break from the typical classroom space. Definitely take Pub Aff 10 with Ritterbusch!

Take this class with Amy!! She is AMAZING- so highly educated and well-spoken. I learned so much from this class and gained a worldly perspective on social problems and change. You don't have to attend lectures or really do all the reading to get an A in the class. There 2 reflexive essays, one research memo, and one policy memo that make up your grade. All of them are graded SUPER easily (at least with my TA I think it was impossible to get below an A on any of these assignments- shoutou to Jihyun, she was a great TA). Overall I would take this class again- highly recommend!