A classroom at a liberal arts college isn’t the first place most would think to find candid, grossly opinionated political discourse, but one brave professor at Ithaca College has defied taboo and decided to bring politics into the spotlight.

The professor, who chooses to keep his identity a secret even around his students, goes only by the name Professor Waldo after his hero, Ralph Waldo Emerson, the transcendentalist poet.

“You never know who is listening these days,” Waldo said in an urgent, hushed tone in his dimly-lit office. “You know, because of the Patriot Act.”

In the 2004 presidential election, only 47 percent of people ages 18 to 24 went to the polls. Waldo theorizes that the low turnout is because of political apathy among youths and does his best to foster the kind of classroom environment where students feel safe to discuss politics and cultivate their own opinions.

“I don’t want to sound radical, but I blame Bush,” Waldo said. “These kids have been living under a tyrannical, unfeeling government. They never had the chance to get motivated, and I make sure they know that.”

One of Waldo’s biggest concerns is that the television shows students watch, the magazines they read and the music they listen to don’t contain enough political content.

“I try to slyly work political messages into my lectures. The other day we were reading the scene in ‘Julius Caesar’ where the conspirators assassinate Caesar after he had turned the former republic into an empire,” Waldo said, eyes fanatically bulging.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this is the perfect opportunity to ask them what they think the chances of Bush being assassinated are.’”

 In his spare time, Waldo enjoys hoarding newspaper clippings, which he keeps hidden in a scrapbook and tapes behind his bookcase.

“When you look back just a few years ago, it’s all ‘weapons of mass destruction’ this and ‘axis of evil’ that, but now you hardly hear about them. It’s like Bush told lies to raise support for the war in Iraq. Am I the only one to figure this out?” Waldo asked, flecks of spit escaping from the corners of his mouth. “The government can’t be trusted, and I let the students know that — to inspire them.”

However, Waldo knows that fervent diatribes can only do so much.

“The outcome of the future is up to these children. They can’t just sit around hoping things will change. They’ve got to learn to be constructive,” Waldo said. “And that’s where professors come in.”