Course credit for Harry Potter, vampires, sex, beer, and chocolate

some students are nodding off during mandatory writing seminars, others are passionately discussing Voldemort's childhood in a class called "Special Topics in Reading Popular Culture: Harry Potter" at Ohio State University, and Dracula's blood-soaked fangs in a course titled "Got Blood: Vampires in Literature and Film" at Aurora University.
These classes are just two of the many offbeat courses taught at some of the country's universities and colleges, courses with names like Alfred University's "Maple Syrup: The Real Thing," Indiana University's "The History of the Beatles," and Occidental Colleges "Stupidity."
The promise of class discussions about Beavis and Butthead may appeal to some students seeking an offbeat intellectual endeavor, but it may also be the course titles themselves that initially draw students to the classroom.
Though Brielle Friedman, a sophomore at Brown University, said "the most influential part" in choosing a course is positive reviews from previous students, the name would "definitely make me consider it more strongly." She said she is considering taking a class this semester called "Hip Hop Music and Cultures" taught by Professor of Africana Studies Tricia Rose.
And take Indiana University's hybrid music appreciation and history class on the Fab Four taught by Professor of Music Glenn Gass each fall semester. Since 1982, he has been attracting a wide range of students – he said the course lures more than 350 people per year – eager to argue about some of the most famous ‘60s rock anthems.
"I treat it mainly as a music appreciation class," Gass said. "The class has gotten bigger, and the Beatles have gotten more popular."
During his semester-long survey class, which satisfies a quarter of the semester credit requirement, Gass said he expects students to read a biography about the Beatles and complete exams consisting of multiple choice questions and short answers. But because the class is so large, Gass said he doesn't require his students to write papers.
Instead, he stresses listening skills and the ability to identify each Beatle's unique style of songwriting while encouraging in-depth study of the iconic group's recordings.
"I never get tired of the Beatles," Gass said. "There's just such joy surrounding the Beatles, I don't really feel like a teacher in that class." At the end of the semester, Gass said he hopes students will leave with both a better historical appreciation for the Beatles and more developed listening skills.
At Ohio State University-Lima, students can delve into the Harry Potter series in a 10-week course taught by English professor Beth Sutton-Ramspeck. The class is demanding, with the expectation that students read all seven books in the epic series during the winter quarter.
And though Sutton-Ramspeck does not intend to teach the course this year – OSU is in the process of transitioning to a semester system – she wrote in an e-mail that she thoroughly enjoyed teaching this class.
"It was quite possibly the most fun course I've ever taught," she wrote. "Students were engaged and excited all quarter."
The class fostered lively discussions, she said, especially in the final class analysis about how readers should evaluate Severus Snape's character.
The class was technically a literature course, but Sutton-Ramspeck said it evolved into a course focused more on textual analysis. In her e-mail, she added that even students who "might not ordinarily be receptive to discussions symbolism" found themselves eagerly arguing about alchemy's medieval symbolism and religious themes. And though she said many students were eager to read more than the day's assignment, Sutton-Ramspeck did have one strict rule: students could not discuss material past the current day's assignment to protect students who had not yet read the books.
Other students interested in fantastical literature at Aurora University in Illinois can fulfill their love for vampires – and four credit hours at a cost of about $2,000 – in Assistant Professor of English Donovan Gwinner's class called "Got Blood," a 3-week spring survey class about vampires in popular culture.
But the course is no walk in the park. Students are sometimes required to read about 200 pages a night from classics such as "Dracula" and more contemporary novels including "Twilight." But maybe that laborious schedule is just part of the class requirement.
What better way to immerse students in a vampire's true character than to encourage all-night readings under an eerily moonlit sky?
And for those students who prefer pancakes to fangs, there's a class at Alfred University in New York about maple syrup. But don't be fooled: the course is based in history science and demands a love of frigid temperatures.
The class description – listed in last year's honors section – reads, "Wanted: Someone with a background in meteorology, chemistry, botany, forestry, art and cookery who is also a nature lover with lots of patience. Must enjoy long hours of hard work in the snow, cold and mud." Students in the class learn about the history and production of maple syrup and get the chance to taste a myriad of sugary confections during trips to producers, restaurants and festivals.
There's also a class at the University of South Florida called, "Sex, Beer and Chocolate: Fact and Fiction about the things you love," catering to public health students interested in passion and the science of desires.
And though Elmer Griffin, the professor behind "Stupidity" at Occidental College in southern California, declined to comment about his class, the course description may sound temping.
Part of the critical and social justice department, the description for the four-credit course reads, "Stupidity, which has been evicted from the philosophical premises and dumbed down by psychometric psychology, has returned in the postmodern discourse against Nation, Self and Truth and makes itself felt in political life ranging from the presidency to Beevis and Butthead."
And with all these quirky courses, why would students study organic chemistry again when they could read "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" over a warm plate of maple-syrup covered waffles while listening to the Beatles on their iPods instead?