Conference will explore civic education as a solution, producing report for South Carolina

A two-day conference at the University of South Carolina will feature scholars from around the country and representatives from 11 colleges in the state exploring how civic education and America’s founding documents can help solve modern democratic challenges.

The conference “Civic Engagement and the Constitutional Order” from April 13-14 will include talks about constructive disagreement, strengthening community, and engaging in activism. All events are free and open to the public and will be held in the Joseph F. Rice School of Law. Registration is available at tinyurl.com/mellon-usc.

The conference caps off three years of programming by USC’s Humanities Collaborative focused on voting rights, political polarization, the Constitution and more. Supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation, the initiative has sponsored public talks, student seminars, debates and faculty professional development.

The conference features seven keynote speakers from around the U.S., including Jedediah Purdy, a Duke University law professor who delivered a popular talk about democracy and the rule of law earlier in the event series. Deva Woodly of Brown University will speak about democracy’s need for “third spaces,” meaning places aside from work and home where people connect with others. Peter Levine of Tufts University will discuss civic education.

The conference also includes participants from nearly every public university in South Carolina and several private universities as well as local civic organizations.

Sam Bagg, a political science professor organizing this year’s Mellon grant programming, said the conference will lead to a report exploring the state of civic education in South Carolina and how civic literacy can be improved.

He said the conference will be an exciting capstone to the three years of Mellon grant activities.

“The grant has deeply enriched our collective engagement with America’s founding documents and civic traditions,” Bagg said. “It has brought some of the nation’s leading scholars of America’s constitutional heritage to campus for packed public lectures and student engagement, directly enriching the experience of both graduate and undergraduate students.”

“It has also brought together a lively and interdisciplinary cohort of faculty fellows for a series of dialogues about America’s past, present, and future.”

The Humanities Collaborative in the McCausland College of Arts and Sciences encourages research and experience in the humanities, supporting programs that make history, art, literature, culture, language and other fields more accessible to the public.