A civics education helps students see for themselves why democracy is important,” said Coyne, an advanced lecturer in political science and the Nehal and Jenny Fan Raj Lecturer in Undergraduate Teaching. “We take that idea and spend some time talking together about what it means and give them the tools to be critical in a constructive way. I believe that’s also a civic skill.”
SCI is also about to launch a senior honors program.
SCI currently supports three postdoctoral fellows who combine teaching seminars on civic history and thought, constitutionalism, and political economy with their own research on topics relevant to the education of citizens. For example, postdoctoral fellow Simon Luo is examining the rise of China and how political actors shape its future. Next academic year, the number of SCI postdocs will grow to five.
Meanwhile, SCI collaborates with other campus efforts such as ePluribus Stanford and the Democracy Hub, which seek to cultivate a campus culture in which open and constructive dialogue thrives and learning across differences flourishes.
“Disagreement about politics – about the basic terms on which we should live together – is a feature and not a bug of a democratic society,” said Satz, the Vernon R. and Lysbeth Warren Anderson Dean of H&S, faculty director of the Democracy Hub, and university liaison for ePluribus Stanford. “That said, there are skills and values that need to be in place to make such disagreement productive. SCI will continue to build on what students have learned in COLLEGE, further preparing them for lives of engaged citizenship.”
