Legal Studies

This course will introduce students to ideas about institutional structures, political actors, and constitutional debates in U.S. government and politics. We will explore the historical development and founding of the United States, discuss major debates about the structure of our republican form of government, connect the three branches of government to contemporary politics and elections, examine the role of race and gender in American politics, and critique the American constitutional system.

In this course students will examine the organization, functioning, and impact of courts in the United States. Attention will be paid to the role of lawyers in the judicial system, trial and appellate court procedures, selection of judges, and the relationship of courts to other elements of the U.S. political system. Topics will include the nature of law, the role of juries, plea bargaining, alternative conflict resolution, court workload, and proposals for reform.
Prerequisite(s): POLSC 1000 United States Government and Politics.
(Normally offered alternate years.)

This is an excellent course for students looking to enhance their own argument skills generally and especially for those planning to take the standardized tests for law or graduate school. Students will learn to understand and evaluate formal and informal arguments, the principles that support their logical forms, and how to apply these principles in the construction of arguments. Students will learn to distinguish arguments from other forms of language (e.g. descriptive or imperative uses of language) as well as develop the ability to recognize good and bad reasoning. This will include general examinations of common fallacies, valid and invalid deductive and strong and weak inductive arguments, standards of reasoning and the principles that sustain these standards in professional fields.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

An introduction to the law, the courts, torts and contracts. It will also explore the law's application to business. This is a required course for Business Administration and Accounting majors.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered each semester.)

A survey of the application of the law to business entities, with an emphasis on business formation, negotiable intruments and other legal matters. The course is designed to meet the needs of accounting students, prelaw students and students planning on attending graduate school. The course does not satisfy the Business Law requuirement for Business Administration majors.
Prerequisite(s): Junior standing or permission of the instructor.
(Normally offered each spring semester.)

Survey of criminal law with emphasis on basic legal procedure developed by the courts and legal problems of law enforcement.
Prerequisite(s): CRMJS 1010 Introduction to Criminal Justice.
(Normally offered alternate years.)

This course allows students to participate at a meaningful level in an internship with a public official, political figure, public agency, campaign or interest group and to use that experience as the basis for an academic paper.
Pass/Fail only.
Prerequisite(s): Permission of the department chair.

An advanced course focusing on an examination of the basic principles of U.S. constitutional law, based on study of U.S. Supreme Court cases. Trends in interpretation of the Constitution and the role of Supreme Court decisions in U.S. politics will be stressed.
Prerequisite(s): POLSC 1000 United States Government and Politics and junior standing or permission of the instructor.

The focus of this course is on the writing process and its product, as applied to a particular genre (risk fiction, scriptwriting, creative nonfiction, the essay, biography), which will vary from semester to semester. The course is conducted as a workshop in which students read their own compositions to the class and respond to the compositions of their classmates. Students may request Chair approval to repeat this course for credit with a different genre.
Prerequisite(s): First Year Writing.

This course is an introduction to using the sociological perspective as a method of social inquiry. Students explore such basic concepts as culture, socialization, social structure, social interaction, and social change. They study and apply the theories and research methodologies used to investigate human social interaction. These concepts are applied to social topics such as race, class, gender, family, crime, population, environment, and others.
(Normally offered each semester.)