The Civics & Humanities minor offers students an interdisciplinary way to study the ideas, texts and traditions that shaped American civic life. Students engage founding and re-founding documents alongside broader humanities traditions that influenced the nation’s political and intellectual foundations.
Learn more in the Academic Bulletin
PHIL/POLI 230: Constructive Disagreement
Constructive Disagreement, cross-listed as PHIL/POLI 230 and taught by Nathan White, will be offered in the spring on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:25–5:40 p.m. The course focuses on productive dialogue across differences and helps students strengthen skills in listening, discussion and civic engagement. This class fulfills GSS and VSR Carolina Core Learning Outcomes.
Foundations in Civic Education and Public Discourse
Each semester, the Center for American Civic Leadership and Public Discourse designates two to three “Foundations” classes. These enriched courses advance one or both points of the Center’s mission—the promotion of public discourse and the pursuit of civic literacy.
Students in the Francis Lieber Undergraduate Forum are encouraged to take these classes to support their growth as an academic cohort.
Lieber Forum students will receive a $200 stipend for each Foundations class taken to be used for additional reading and other educational materials beyond the required course texts. Lieber Forum students enrolled in these classes should contact Christopher Tollefsen, ctollefs@mailbox.sc.edu, to discuss the stipend for educational materials.
Professors teaching Foundations courses will receive a stipend for activities related to the class such as visiting speaker, a meal with students, or a local trip.
The Center invites faculty to propose their class for consideration as a Foundations class. All USC instructional faculty may contact the Director of the Center, Christopher Tollefsen (ctollefs@mailbox.sc.edu) to ask for consideration. The email should be accompanied by a syllabus, and a brief statement of why the class would be appropriate for inclusion in the Foundations series. Courses will be selected which support the Center’s mission of developing dialogic, cultural, and civic literacy among University of South Carolina students. For full consideration, proposals should be submitted prior to a semester’s advising period.
Spring 2027 Foundations in Civic Education and Public Discourse Classes
PHIL/POLI 230, “Constructive Disagreement”
Nathan White, Center for American Civic Leadership & Public Discourse
Schedule: T/Th @ 4:25-5:40 p.m.
Investigation of the role of disagreement in constructive dialogue, including the place of conflict in sharpening thought and in the creation of new possibilities.
PHIL 329, “Law & Religion”
Mary Nickel, Department of Philosophy
Schedule: M/W @ 2:20-3:35 p.m.
An examination and critical assessment of the philosophical concepts, issues, and questions surrounding the relationship of church and state.
HIST 469, “Constitutional History of the United States”
Donovan Fifield, Department of History
Schedule: T/Th @ 4:25-5:40 p.m.
A study of the constitutional development of the United States from the creation of the Articles of Confederation to the Civil War. It deals primarily with problems of governmental organization, judicial interpretation, and sectional politics.