Course Descriptions
Undergraduate
CLT 2000 – The American Constitutional Tradition
This course will examine the American constitutional order, from its philosophical origins in the ancient and modern Western tradition to the contributions of 20th century political theorists. We will seek to understand how the American Constitution was created and how it has been interpreted and challenged through various constitutional crises. To this end, we will study the documents and speeches that have shaped America from the Founding era to the present day, including the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, The Federalist, and the writings of leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
CLT 2750 – Complex Leadership Challenges
CLT 3000 – The Art of Statesmanship and the Civic Life
This course examines the art of statesmanship, the meaning of political greatness, and the means of educating aspiring young statesmen and stateswomen. The ambition, moral character, cunning, prudence, and grit required for effective statesmanship are analyzed using books written by past statesmen for future statesmen. The course also explores whether the life of leadership is a desirable way of life. Differences between classical and modern statesmanship are considered, in addition to the unique demands that different regimes and natural circumstances place on founders and leaders.
CLT 3010 – The Art of Rhetoric and the Civic Life
This course examines the art of rhetoric and the role that rhetoric plays in different political societies. The purposes and limitations of rhetoric and public deliberation in modern democracies will be analyzed through close readings of great speeches from classical to modern times. The tradition of great speeches by American men and women is a special focus of this course. Other forms of writing, including philosophical texts, dialogues, essays, and literary works will be considered. Students will also write and present their own oration and may receive feedback from professional speechwriters.
CLT 3020 – Liberalism and Conservatism in America
This course explores the liberal and conservative traditions that have influenced American political thought from the Founding era to the present day. Students will investigate the philosophical foundations of both traditions, starting with Thomas Paine’s revolutionary liberalism and Edmund Burke’s conservative response. The course will trace the evolution of these ideas through significant American political debates. Key figures studied include J.S. Mill, James Fitzjames Stephen, Herbert Croly, William Graham Sumner, F.A. Hayek, Russell Kirk, Martin Luther King Jr., Barry Goldwater, and contemporary theorists. By closely analyzing primary texts, students will gain insight into how these competing visions continue to shape American political discourse regarding authority, liberty, equality, and the appropriate role of government.
CLT 3030 – Model U.S. Senate
Through the recreation of historical Senate debates, students will learn the nature of statesmanship and the distinct function of the Senate in our republic. We will begin by studying the creation of the U.S. Constitution, focusing on the separation of powers and how the American Founders envisioned the role of Congress within it. We will then study the development of Congress throughout U.S. history. This study will include the simulation of three historic Senate debates, in which students will strategize and debate legislation and other congressional actions. Topics may include foreign policy, treaty ratifications, constitutional amendments, and presidential impeachments.
CLT 3040 – Constitutional Democracy and Democratic Citizenship
This course examines the theoretical foundations and practical challenges of constitutional democracy, combining insights from political economy and moral philosophy. Students will explore how constitutional systems manage competing interests, how democratic institutions function, and what ethical obligations citizens have in a democracy. Topics include constitutional design, public choice theory, voting behavior, religious freedom, and civic duties. The course emphasizes both formal analysis of democratic institutions and normative questions about democratic citizenship.
CLT 3500 – Civic Discourse
This course explores the value of civic discourse to an open, free, and tolerant society and provides students with an opportunity to learn and practice the core skills necessary to civic discourse. Students will study the underlying philosophic justifications for maintaining an open society and the connection between civic discourse and an open society. Students will also study how to productively discuss difficult or sensitive subjects with others who hold different or contrary views, and the value of doing so. The class will confront a series of contemporary “hot-button” issues (i.e. gun control, immigration, abortion, policing) to allow students the opportunity to engage in civic discourse.
CLT 3510 – Competing Theories of Justice
This course explores competing theories of justice as models we can use to explore and think more carefully about contemporary controversies in public, political, and social spheres. Students will assess the practical applications of those theories in different situations. Students will also research and prepare an executive summary on different actions, laws or public policies. They will present these summaries in a mini-conference that will take place as part of the course.
CLT 3750 – The Empire of Modern Science
CLT 3990 – Special Topics in Civic Thought
The Institute's Special Topics courses focus on a careful reading of a single text, a comprehensive study of a single author’s thought, or a more broad investigations of ideas, history, and texts across multiple authors. Topics vary every year and are selected by the instructor. These courses may be repeated for a total of 6 credit hours under different topics.
Special Topics in Civic Thought for 2025-26:
Model U.S. Senate (Spring 2025)
Students in this course will study historical debates in the U.S. Senate before arguing the positions of significant historical figures in simulations. This course is a convergence between scholarship and practical statesmanship, teaching students about the relationship between ideas and action. Students are assigned the role of a historical senator, whose arguments and character they research and discuss. This course involves regular classroom instruction sessions leading up to 3-4 simulations throughout the semester.
College of Law
LAWT 9000 – Freedom of Expression During Times of War and Panic
Spanning the breadth of U.S. history, from the 1798 Sedition Act to today’s “cancel culture,” this course will examine many of the great legal cases that, during times of stress and division, have most tested the nation’s commitment to what Justice Louis Brandeis called the “The Indispensable Right”—without which every other liberty listed in our Constitution will ultimately fall.
LAWP 6000 – The Death Penalty
This course focuses on how and why, through decades of controversy, capital punishment remains in the United States. It is both a substantive law course and an interdisciplinary seminar involving philosophy, politics, and sociology. It is also an invitation to look inward at your own values. We will lift capital punishment’s hood to see, up close, how the different parts of “the machinery of death,” as Justice Blackmun called it, operate. We will ask whether these parts are functioning correctly and justly—always against a backdrop of dissenting jurists challenging whether it should be allowed to function at all.
LAWP 9000 – Wrongful Convictions
This course examines the most common causes of wrongful convictions, including: Eyewitness misidentifications, false confessions, law enforcement misconduct, lying police informants, and junk science