Using demographic data from the 2020 Census, students in Trinity’s Fall 2021 “Mathematics and Redistricting” course taught by visiting assistant professor of mathematics Kyle Evans created maps of a new Connecticut congressional district that they submitted to the state’s Redistribution Commission for consideration. Their proposed maps became part of the official public hearing of the Connecticut State General Assembly.
One of the highlights of the Community Learning course that explores the relationship between mathematics and democracy, focused on Evans’ research, is the thoughtful design of Congress maps. “I wanted to design a course on redistricting because it is an authentic interdisciplinary topic,” Evans said. Students learn mathematical techniques for evaluating maps, listening to relevant court cases, researching policies and processes across different states, and using multiple online programs to create and evaluate maps. It’s a different approach than a traditional math class or public policy class, which covers a lot of content. This course focuses on one topic and goes as deep as possible.”
The majority of students enrolled in the course were majoring in political science or public policy and law, but Evans said any student with an interest could take it and factor that into the numerical requirement.
Evans taught the course for the first time at Trinity in Fall 2019; Each semester I have evolved to follow the redistricting process. “Statistics is what guides this process every 10 years and makes this work essential,” he said. “We’re talking about apportionment – meaning how many districts and representatives each state gets – and how each state deals with redistricting.” [In Connecticut, that process is now in the hands of a special master, after the Reapportionment Commission failed to meet its December deadline. The Connecticut Supreme Court’s deadline to draw a congressional map is February 15, 2022.]
In the fall, students delved into the role geometry plays in county mapping and learned about various forms of constituency manipulation, which moves county boundaries to give one party an advantage. “Racial manipulation is considered illegal, so we reviewed that legal history and the statistical tests involved in presenting a potential case of racial manipulation,” Evans said.
The course culminated in several map making projects. “The students are very excited about mapping,” Evans said. “It’s one thing you have to learn about things and another thing to share and do it yourself.” Using Dave’s Redistricting App online, which includes census data from each state, students worked individually and collectively on various mapping tasks. “The topic is always fair maps. How do we get fair maps and what does that mean? There are a lot of competing ideas about what fairness might mean and sometimes those ideas conflict with each other, so it’s hard to come up with a map that does all of these things at the same time. I ask Students think about it and put their ideas to the test,” Evans said.
Henry Shapiro ’24, who is pursuing a major in mathematics and computer science, said he was challenged notions of equity. “Before joining this class, I would regard any oddly shaped voting area as a ‘playmaker’ and anything else to be fair,” he said. “This chapter radically changed my understanding and showed me the complexity of redistricting.”
The students also designed new maps for the Connecticut General Assembly and the Connecticut Senate, and partnered with the nonpartisan Connecticut League of Women Voters in an advocacy project asking Hartford lawmakers to pass legislation to make redistricting more transparent.
Anna Grant Bolton 25, who plans to major in human rights, public policy and law, said the most unique part of the class was collaborating with the League of Women Voters to create a preview of Connecticut redistricting. “We were assigned to an area in Connecticut to review demographic changes that might affect redistricting and map out a potential home for the state. This project was a win-win: the students were able to expand their knowledge of the redistricting process, while the League of Women Voters was able to publish a preview Comprehensive Connecticut redistricting.
Evans said one of his goals for the course is to help students feel empowered to participate in the political process. Students come not knowing what redistricting means. By the end, once you have that mapping and working collaboratively, knowing how to use data and getting an idea of true equity, they are well equipped to handle that process,” he said. “Anytime you can engage students in the actual political process, it’s empowering .”
As a result of one class exercise, political science pioneer Abby Weiger ’23 was named one of four winners of the “Map Across America” national redistricting competition. “I won a Judge’s Pick for my map in Congress for North Carolina,” she said. “Professor Evans has enabled me to participate in the political process by demonstrating how truly our voices can be heard, especially when informed with appropriate knowledge. It does not matter that we are a younger generation of college students, because our voices matter, and change in the system can only come from us willing to take Attitude toward what we believe in. I would encourage students and other voters to email their local or state representative about a problem they want to solve.”
The curriculum covered every level of policy, from the local – putting together a resource for counties within towns – to the global level, with a module on redistricting around the world. “We’re zooming in and out as much as we can,” Evans said. “I feel like this class can be a model in terms of what we can do, it’s authentic, it’s multidisciplinary and it has some form of participatory engagement. It’s something I’m really proud of, something the students are very excited about, and something really important.”
Shapiro added, “I believe that while the class itself appealed to my interests, Professor Evans’ teaching philosophy and passion for the class were what really inspired me to engage in the political process. In learning about the intersection between mathematics and politics, it opened my eyes to the fact that almost any field of study has Some form of intersection with the political process. Whether you’re majoring in human rights or engineering or anything in between, it’s worth asking yourself: What skills do you have or are you learning that you can use to make change?”
Learn more about mathematics at Trinity College here.