WEST CAMPUS — As Election Day draws near, Valencia College honors director Valerie Burks spoke about the dilemmas of political consent as part of the IDH: Professor’s Choice lecture series Thursday evening at West Campus.

Burks explained that there are two types of consent, the consent of the governed — which is when an individual is not considered a citizen — and the consent to be governed as a subject or a citizen of a particular government.

According to Burks, younger people often have difficulty distinguishing between the two.

“There is a distressing lack of civic education at the elementary age,” said Burks. “It’s a problem that needs to be solved.”

Burks also talked about political dissent, which is when the people suffer as a result of the choices that a government can make. Revolts can happen during dissent, and can occur when people are struggling.

“I think it is much more likely to happen when people are struggling because they don’t have anything at stake,” said Burks. “People who are well off economically are very unlikely to dissent because they stand a lot to lose.”

Audience members were engaged when questions were asked. Members of the audience included Valencia honor students, faculty and staff.

Dale Bauer, a Valencia student, attended the lecture. “I felt interacted with the questions of consent,” said Bauer. “The subject was lively and that it was an enjoyable experience.”

Jen Smith, an honor student at Valencia, was interested in learning about political consent. This was not the first time that Smith has attended a lecture in the series.

“I loved the graph about the dilemmas of consent that was presented,” said Smith. “I like coming to them, and it was great to see so many people.”

For more information on the dilemmas of political consent contact Valerie Burks at [email protected].