San Diego State University on Wednesday changed the name of one of its courses after the school was criticized by the public for implying that President Trump should be impeached or removed from office.

The one-unit course, which begins on Friday, was titled, “Trump: Impeachment, Removal or Conviction?”.

Following the outcry, the name Trump was dropped from the title.

“In retrospect, we realize the title of the course, ‘Trump: Impeachment, Removal, or Conviction?’ is inconsistent with the course content described,” SDSU said in a statement. “As a result, the title will be amended to accurately reflect this course offered now and for future offerings of this course.


“The course presents an overall framework of impeachment, removal, or criminal investigation of a president and rather than focusing on President Trump, reviews all 19 impeachments in U.S. history. The one-unit, weekend class is not a requirement for graduation and is not paid for by state funds.”

The course is offered through SDSU’s extended studies program and is meant for the general public. However, students can take the course and earn credit toward graduation.”

The course description says the class will focus “on the two constitutional grounds: impeachment and removal (25th Amendment), and the possible charges of the independent counsel, the powers of the president, a history of the creation of that office and the comparison of divine right and rule of law leadership, presidential impeachments, including Nixon’s de facto impeachment, practically limitless grounds for impeachment, presidential immunity from indictment, and grounds for impeachment, removal, or indictment covering: conflict of interests, foreign emoluments, climate change, racism, religious bias, improper influence, nepotism, and a host of crimes, including conspiracy, false statements, and obstruction of justice.”

The required textbook for the course is, “The Case for Impeachment” by Allan J. Lichtman, a history professor at American University in Washington, D.C.


In late 2016, Lichtman predicted that Trump would win the presidency. He has correctly predicted the winning presidential candidate in every election since 1984.

Lichtman published “The Case for Impeachment” in April 2017. The book examines the circumstances under which Trump could be impeached or removed from office. It also explores impeachment efforts that have been waged throughout American history.

Lichtman is deeply familiar with the electoral process. In 2006, he ran for the U.S. Senate in Maryland, running as a Democrat.

The SDSU course is being taught by John Joseph Cleary, a lecturer who could not immediately be reached for comment.


Brandon Jones, an SDSU student who chairs the school’s College Republicans club, told Fox News on Wednesday, “San Diego State seems to be sending a very clear message … They’re making a very strong claim that the president has sort of committed crimes of treason or bribery and that he has allegedly been accused of violating Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution …

“We see this all the time. College campuses, especially San Diego State University, there’s tons of liberal bias.”

That belief appears to have influenced the outcome of a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center last year.

The survey says, in part, “Currently, 58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country, while just 36 percent say their effect is positive.


“Just two years ago, attitudes were the reverse: a 54 percent majority of Republicans and Republican leaners said colleges were having a positive effect, while 37 percent said their effect was negative.”

The polarization that exists on college campuses was especially evident in early February when Savanah Lyon, a UC San Diego student, launched an online petition that was meant to pressure the school into dropping a course it teaches on the films of Woody Allen.

Lyon, a theater student, said she filed the petition because Allen had been accused years ago of sexually abusing his adopted daughter when she was young. No charges were ever filed against Allen, and the director says the allegations are groundless.

The petition caused a political uproar that ended when the school’s Academic Senate denied Lyon’s request.


The case drew the attention of Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, who had a sharp response when asked how he would have responded if Lyon had asked him to cancel on of his own classes under the same circumstances.

Khosla said, “I would have told her to move on and get out of my classroom. I get to teach in my class.”

UC San Diego says no to a student’s demand that it cancel a course that focuses on the work of Woody Allen