Civics, Law and Leadership
Degree: BA
Campus: Columbus
Center: Civics (Salmon P. Chase Center)
The Bachelor of Arts in Civics, Law and Leadership grounds students in the ideas, texts and traditions that have shaped American civic life and law. Students use this grounding to:
- Address problems and perspectives they haven't encountered before
- Learn how ordinary citizens and legal experts have worked side by side to build and reshape the nation's institutions
- Develop capacities that distinguish effective civic leaders:
- Thinking critically across disciplines
- Communicating complex ideas clearly
- Engaging unfamiliar arguments on their strongest terms before reaching their own conclusions
This isn't a program about memorizing history; it's preparation for making it. This is true whether students go on to law school, public service, nonprofit leadership, business, religious life or graduate study in any field that demands clear thinking about how we govern ourselves and live together.
Students can declare a major in Civics, Law and Leadership when applying to Ohio State.
Scholarships
The Chase Center provides competitive student scholarships for students pursuing the CIVICLL major or minor.
The curriculum for the Civics, Law and Leadership (CIVICLL) program requires students to complete a minimum of 33 credit hours of courses. Students begin with 2 foundational courses that introduce them to the key ideas and historical debates that shape American civic life, law, and leadership (6 hours).
They then select at least one course in each of three categories: American civic life, constitutionalism and leadership. This breadth familiarizes students with intermediate level concepts and the many institutions, ideas and practices that have shaped the American experience and leadership of it.
American civic life
These courses focus on topics of American belonging and identity, challenging students to reflect on some of the most enduring questions in American culture:
- The challenge of pluralism
- The meaning of equality
- The role of religion in public life
- Political partisanship
Among others.
American constitutionalism
American Constitutionalism courses introduce students to the role of the law in American life, covering topics such as:
- Structural protection of rights
- State constitutions
- Constitutional interpretation
American leadership
American Leadership courses present students with historical and contemporary examples of statesmanship, guiding their own development as civic leaders (9 total hours).
Specialization courses
Based on their interests and expected career path, students then select one of these themes as their specialization and take two additional courses in that theme. This enables students to deepen their knowledge for possible careers in law, non-profit work, business, government, or graduate school (6 hours).
Theory into practice
The major culminates with two courses that help students translate theory to practice: Solving Civic Problems and a capstone experience. The first exposes students to the ways leaders identify civic problems and the diverse methodological tools at their disposal to fix them. The second provides students with an opportunity to work collaboratively to solve a civic problem (6 hours).
Additional courses
Students take 2 additional courses either from those categories or elective courses, including a variety of options from other majors (6 hours).
Chase students are eligible to participate in non-credit bearing summer study experiences in the United Kingdom and France. Expenses are partially covered by the Center.
Several CIVICLL courses, including CIVICLL 2210, 3212, 3215 and 3300, are honors approved with many more to come.
Students may be interested in the Salmon P. Chase Society, which provides unique access to lectures by outside speakers, small student reading groups led by Chase Center professors, film screenings, research workshops, social events and global education opportunities.
In the age of AI, employers are paying a premium for graduates who have high-level social and communication skills and sound ethical judgement. Graduates with the ability to think constructively, navigate different perspectives and think across disciplinary divides are also competitive.
The multidisciplinary nature of the Civics, Law and Leadership degree makes it an ideal pathway for students pursuing careers in government, law, the non-profit sector, business, and religious life as well as students who wish to pursue advanced graduate work.
Upon graduation from the Civics, Law and Leadership major, students will know how to:
- Analyze and critically evaluate the primary and secondary sources necessary for understanding and appreciating the key ideas, texts, events, individuals, debates, traditions and developments that have defined American constitutionalism and civic life.
- Compare and contrast their experiences, reasoning and cultural assumptions with the accumulated wisdom of inherited traditions, the successes and failures of historical cases, and the best lessons from the behavioral, social and natural sciences.
- Apply a multi-disciplinary perspective to identify and draw insights from historical antecedents of contemporary problems, real-world applications of theoretical claims, and the principled bases for practical courses of action and civic leadership within a pluralistic American polity.
- Draw on multiple scholarly disciplines to effectively research and present arguments about civic and constitutional traditions and civic life using a variety of modes (e.g., verbal, textual and visual), while faithfully characterizing arguments that counter their positions.
- Collaborate in a mutually beneficial way with people and groups inside and beyond the academy to co-produce, share and apply knowledge related to power, law or politics, contributing to self-governance, common understanding, civil debate and civic leadership.