Robert Charles Smith (born February 12, 1947) is a political science professor at San Francisco State University (SFSU). He is known for his scholarship on race and politics in the United States, about which he has written several books. The "Black Politics" class he began teaching at SFSU in 1990 proved controversial; students protested the class because it was offered in the political science department rather than the African American studies department, which was interpreted by some students as encroaching on the latter department's area of focus. References External links Faculty page African-American political scientists Living people 1947 births People from Benton, Louisiana University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Los Angeles alumni Howard University alumni San Francisco State University faculty