This policy lab practicum aims to support the efforts of ePluribus SLS, ePluribus Stanford, and the Gould Center to promote critical inquiry, productive discourse, and professional judgment at the Law School and beyond. We will study the efforts at Stanford and other universities to cultivate constructive discourse and civic engagement and to increase viewpoint diversity. What are the desired outcomes of those efforts (e.g., improving students' skills, changing the institutions' very cultures of discourse)? What strategies (i.e., theories of change) have the institutions pursued to achieve those goals? By what standards or metrics should progress be evaluated? What actual evidence is there of success? Along the way, we will examine the literature on the values, skills and barriers that affect these outcomes--for example curiosity, candor, doubt, active listening, confirmation biases, and self-censorship. We will also examine the possible tensions between efforts to foster critical discourse and to foster students' inclusion and belonging. Students will satisfy the course requirements through short research papers designed to aid the various Stanford initiatives. Students may receive R credit for research paper of adequate depth and length. If the demand for the policy lab exceeds its capacity of LAW 12, priority will be given to student participants in ePluribus SLS. The meeting time will be determined by student availability, in coordination with the instructors. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete a Consent Application Form available at SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/.
2 units · Law Honors/Pass/Restrd Cr/Fail
This policy lab practicum aims to support the efforts of ePluribus SLS, ePluribus Stanford, and the Gould Center to promote critical inquiry, productive discourse, and professional judgment at the Law School and beyond. We will study the efforts at Stanford and other universities to cultivate constructive discourse and civic engagement and to increase viewpoint diversity. What are the desired outcomes of those efforts (e.g., improving students' skills, changing the institutions' very cultures of discourse)? What strategies (i.e., theories of change) have the institutions pursued to achieve those goals? By what standards or metrics should progress be evaluated? What actual evidence is there of success? Along the way, we will examine the literature on the values, skills and barriers that affect these outcomes--for example curiosity, candor, doubt, active listening, confirmation biases, and self-censorship. We will also examine the possible tensions between efforts to foster critical discourse and to foster students' inclusion and belonging. Students will satisfy the course requirements through short research papers designed to aid the various Stanford initiatives. Students may receive R credit for research paper of adequate depth and length. If the demand for the policy lab exceeds its capacity of 12, priority will be given to student participants in ePluribus SLS. The meeting time will be determined by student availability, in coordination with the instructors. CONSENT APPLICATION: To apply for this course, students must complete a Consent Application Form available at SLS Registrar https://registrar.law.stanford.edu/.
Offered in Spring 2026 at Stanford University.