best prof ive r had. ppl complain about the grades but he just takes the class seriously. He wants to see you succeed and to help you genuinely understand content. Go to his (amazing) lectures, show up to office hours, and make yourself known - you will do well & learn. Its not an easy A but it is such a worthwhile experience.

I went to every lecture, took good notes, studied before every exam, etc. This man just likes to grade super hard for no reason and his class left me feeling very discouraged. Avoid if you can.

Norris is my favorite professor at UCSB. His classes are tough, but he is engaging and always willing to accommodate students for office hours. His lectures are so helpful and even though they're not mandatory, it's difficult to succeed without them. He is super self-deprecating but also clearly incredibly intelligent. Hard class but so rewarding.

If you don't take a class with Norris you are doing yourself a disservice. easily the best professor i've ever had. taking my second class with him now and wish i could take more. if you take it, apply yourself, do the readings and go to office hours consistently. hard but so worth it.

So many babies on here. Norris is a genuine intellectual and an incredibly talented lecturer. His depth of knowledge and ability to communicate ideas is one unmatched by other professors I've had. His classes are hard, hence the B+, but this is how college classes used to be. Holding students to a high standard isn't “condescending.”

A ball of contradictions. Very caring and nervous. Cares a lot about students. Also brilliant and condescending. Will diss u publicly for questions & being late. I've taken him for a whole year (most ppl do), but it's a love hate relationship. Short answer hw, dense & hard readings, not mandatory but highly recommended lectures. 10/10 lectures.

I've taken a couple of classes from Professor Norris and he honestly gets a lot more flack than he deserves. He's very passionate about what he teaches and makes his lectures very engaging. There is a lot of reading and most of it is very dense but he does his best to go over the main points. He's also always accessible outside of class.

ppl say hes condescending but he lowkey isn't. hes goofy asf and anxious about being a good teacher. He answers questions super well and thoroughly. Honestly if you do the reading and pay attention it's not super hard, but sometimes grading is tough. Makes difficult content fun & made me actually enjoy political theory classes. love him!

Prof. Norris is passionate about what he teaches and genuinely wants students to succeed. The readings are dense but usually make sense after lecture. Norris created an optional discussion section when students expressed need for more clarification and keeps class interesting with his jokes. Definitely recommend taking his classes.

I really loved Norris. He is an engaging lecturer with a great sense of humor. The class was hard and there was a lot of reading, but most of the reading is decently easy to understand. He was very kind and accommodating whenever I emailed him or went to office hours. Essay prompts were clear and easy to write about. He is clear about expectations.

Genuinely an awful professor. Super condescending when questions are asked, gets sidetracked easily in lectures. The prompts on his essays are very complicated and confusing, and when you ask questions about the prompt he gives very vague answers. I very very rough grader, and his tests are so difficult. Honestly this was the worst experience.

Take this class if you hate yourself and you have an unshakeable sense of self-esteem when it comes to political theory. Initially, I loved this class but because Norris is a tenured professor he doesn't give a flying fadoodle about whether you stay or go. People who love theory hate this class, that should say enough.