It feels horrible to say this since 161 is a minority politics class but I literally could not understand a single word that Prof. Lien said in lecture. Lecture attendance is mandatory you will spend an hour and 15 minutes trying to teach yourself course material from the giant paragraphs of text on the slides.

Super nice and respectful lady—very accommodating. However, she's a bad lecturer/speaker and heavily weights midterm and final. Her grading is arbitrary and unclear. Beware she grades harshly if you don't follow her format. Not the worst but not the best. Don't be scared to take her if you have to but don't expect it to be great.

Two response papers- grading criteria were unclear and all readings had to be mentioned which was quite challenging. Feedback didn't really make sense, and lectures felt long and confusing. Easy to tune out and midterm had multiple choice that focused on very specific details in the class that are super easy to brush over.

This class was extremely interesting and I liked the way that it was organized, and Lien is responsible for shaping that structure. Succeeding on exams is very possible with adequate preparation. One thing I will say is that lectures are not good. They consist of extremely dense slides that are quickly skipped over and not usually posted IMO.

Absolutely awful class. No sections and no explanation of the "covered" topics. Grading done on the basis of something nobody understands except for her. You basically walk out of the class confused and drained.

Class is kinda hard so get ready to read. I feel like she also prefaces this in her course. She gives a really detailed study guide though, which is word for word on the midterm, so bless up. Also average was like 79 for the midterm, which is B- ... i fear it is not bad bro. Hack is to save her lecture slides after class