Two programs at the University of Notre Dame seek to instill in undergraduates a knowledge of and respect for civic education and institutions that support a free people.
The Potenziani Program in Constitutional Studies and The Tocqueville Program for the Inquiry Into Religion and Public Life are directed by Associate Professor Vincent Phillip Muñoz, a political scientist with a strong background in American constitutionalism and religious liberty. His well-received book, “God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson,” explores the views of key American Founders on the relationship between religion and government.
The Constitutional Studies Minor gives students the opportunity to “engage in learning and discussion about constitutionalism, including church-state issues and First Amendment rights,” Muñoz says. The courses are “neither liberal nor conservative in a narrow political sense” but instead “help students appreciate our political heritage by introducing them to the great debates in American political and constitutional history.”
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