The Political Science Students’ Association has started a weekly lunch series where students can talk to professors about current political events.

The lunches, held in the Danforth University Center from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesdays, feature a political science professor, a newspaper and students who want to attend.

The idea behind the series is to get students and professors together in an informal setting to discuss political events of the day.

Although in the past there have been similar events hosted by the department, they have always required that students read an article or journal and come prepared.

“We wanted to make something that was more open to the entire student body,” said junior Mark Dudley, the president of Political Science Students’ Association (PSSA). “So Dr. Rehfeld and PSSA and I came up with doing these casual lunches with professors.”

Andrew Rehfeld, associate professor of political science, is the faculty adviser for PSSA and the director of undergraduate studies for the political science department.

The discussion topics are driven by students who start talking about news of the day that interests them. If conversation lags, Rehfeld comes armed with a copy of The New York Times to help keep things on topic. Past discussions have concerned former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich’s corruption scandal, President Obama’s cabinet appointments and the economy.

The week’s guest professor also has an impact on the subjects that come up.

“I would say that in just comparing last week’s conversation with this week’s conversation, people will have different [discussions] based on what the professor is more knowledgeable in, what that professor read that week,” Dudley said.

The number of students who have attended has ranged from eight to 10, and not all the same students attend each week. Feedback has been positive for the most part, even if the meetings seem a little unstructured.

“It wasn’t bad. They’re just starting it out so we’re still not exactly sure what we’re doing but it’s been getting an interesting discussion,” said Almog Vidavsky, a senior who attended.

Students found the setting to be educational in spite of its informal nature.

“It’s a discussion, so people [will be] learning from other people—what they think. And their teachers [have] different arguments. Professors just tell you the facts. This way you can argue why you think it’s this way. It’s a political setting so you don’t have to be so concerned with what will happen. It’s not a formal thing so that gives a relaxation to it,” Vidavsky said.

Many students find the informal time with teachers to be a positive experience.

“I participate in [Assistant Professor of Political Science Ian] MacMullen’s current events dinner he has every Thursday night, and it is really beneficial to not only hear the professors but to hear your peers, considering you normally don’t talk about current events or have some structured time to talk about current events with your peers,” freshman Corey Donahue said.

Professors also enjoy the extra time spent with students.

“Students are always surprised at me having interest in getting to know about them,” said Professor of Political Science Gary Miller, who both attended the last PSSA lunch and hosts dinners with four to five students from his American politics class.

Thus far, Dudley has found the lunches to be successful and doesn’t plan on making any changes until next semester, when there will have been enough events to evaluate the success of the group.

“Obviously we’re going to be looking into doing next semester and the years beyond and seeing what worked out, what can be improved, what can be scrapped, what can be done better and go from there, so the ideas we’re working on will kind of depend on how this semester works out,” Dudley said.

But the group is still trying to attract other sponsors for the series.

“In the future were just trying to get better collaboration between the groups because we do have a lot here,” Dudley said. “We just need to focus it on group events.”