3.00 Credits
This is an introductory level political science course on constitutional rights and public policy which will be taught in interdisciplinary fashion. The course is structured around a series of thirteen televised seminars centering on controversial constitutional issues such as capital punish- ment, affirmative action, abortion, executive privilege, free speech, criminal justice vs. a defendant's right to a fair trial, national security vs. freedom of the press, and individual privacy or state intervention in life and death decisions. The seminars are dramatic confrontations between a skilled moderator and a distinguished group of professors, journalists, lawyers, judges, politicians, and other public figures. Students will watch well-known personalities such as Gerald Ford, Dan Rather, Ed Muskie, Potter Stewart, Gloria Steinhem, and Shirley Hufstedler wrestle with hypothetical cases presented by a law school professor in the manner of Socratic dialogue.