By The Keystone Newspaper KU professor talks about his experience with the education system, voting season and Dungeons and Dragons
By Lillian Stadtmueller
Professor of composition and rhetoric in the English department, Kevin Mahoney, has been teaching at KU since 2002.
Photo Credit: Lillian Stadtmueller
Mahoney earned a bachelor’s in political science and a master’s in English from Syracuse University. He would then earn a PhD in philosophy from Miami University in Ohio before settling down at KU.
Some of his courses include COMP 100 and 200 and a series of courses on rhetoric and social movements within the public relations and professional writing programs.
Mahoney, the son of a kindergarten and a social studies teacher, said that he went into teaching because he “always enjoyed conversations around ideas.” When asked what differences in the teaching world he noticed, Mahoney marked the main challenges as the rise of standardized testing and the defunding of public higher education.
Mahoney emphasized the lack of critical thinking and thought in higher education, marking the importance of balancing scientific study and moral values, stating that the current system is “selling out democracy.”
Outside of teaching, Mahoney plays Dungeons and Dragons games with a group, handles ballots as a judge in his precinct’s elections and enjoys the works of nonfiction author Naomi Klein and science fiction writer Kim Stanley Robinson.
An active union worker and judge of elections of his precinct, Mahoney emphasized strategic voting. When asked about the importance of voting, Mahoney said that it is about “making a choice about whether you think you should have a say in your future or not.”
Strategic voting is looking at the options available and deciding which candidate is most malleable, and as individuals, ask which one will have the most influence to oversee the change they want to see.
When asked about his proudest accomplishment, Mahoney cited his union’s 2016 strike. A union leader at the time, he worked to ensure that departments were not being shut down just because the administration wanted to and worked to get the black mold out of Lytle Hall.
Mahoney and other faculty united to fight against the two-tier faculty system when deciding contracts. This meant that all tenured-track faculty would receive pay and benefits on a different scale than those with tenure.
Winning the strike in three days, Mahoney described the feeling as “joy-incarnate.” Students dressed like SpongeBob and the marching band rallied with the faculty. After the first and most successful union strike, Mahoney and others united with the 14 other PASSHE schools to establish a fair union.
During his time at KU, he supported former undergraduate student Tara Schaeffer, who was wheelchair-bound and her efforts to make the campus more accessible, when the university violated the American Disability Act.
With everything at stake in this upcoming election, Mahoney emphasized autonomy, the right to choose, community, and unity. Ultimately, he wants the KU community to “work for the world we want to have for us and future generations.”