Summer 2026
Student Voting, Civil Rights, and the Practice of Democracy
Dates: June 22, 2026 – July 28, 2026Day/Time: Tuesday; Friday 10:00 AM - 12:40 PM EDT
Level: 200-Level
Certificate: Civic Engagement, Democracy*, Human Rights
Civic Engagement certificate requirement: A community-engaged Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) course.
Human Rights certificate requirement: Elective.
Instructor: Erin Cannan, Bard College Jonathan Becker, Bard College Yael Bromberg, Bard College
The goal of this course is to educate and train a new generation of voting and democracy advocates and student journalists by providing an historical, intellectual and practical grounding in the fight to promote and defend student voting and civil rights. The course will supplement traditional coursework with more applied workshops and trainings focused on issues related to voting (such as voter registration, vote by mail, access to polling stations, etc) and broader issues related to voter education and civic engagement.
The course uses the 26th Amendment, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18 and outlaws age discrimination, as a prism through which to examine both the history of disenfranchisement and the fight for voting rights in the United States today. It has a particular focus on critical college constituencies, including students, faculty, staff and institutional leaders. The course will also focus on case studies exploring how college communities promoted, defended, and expanded the right to vote. Guest lectures will feature major actors and practitioners in the sphere of voting rights and democracy.
This summer course was originally co-designed and taught for the last three years by faculty from colleges which have served as sites of legal voting rights precedent, including: Tuskegee University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T State University, and Bard College. Those faculty members will join the compressed summer course, which is now complemented with additional applied workshops and civic engagement components. The course will in part rely on the book, Youth Voting Rights: Civil Rights, the Twenty-Sixth Amendment, and the Fight for American Democracy on College Campuses (De Gruyter 2026) which emerged from the course.
This is an academic course designed by historians, political scientists and an election law professor and practitioner. It is taught synchronously and online. It is strictly non-partisan.
Engaged Learning: Student participants will ideally be participating in civic work over the summer and/or will work with on-campus or off-campus voting organizations, for student newspapers or student-focused media, or with other nonpartisan community organizations. Those who do not will be expected to participate in some civic engagement work to be agreed to with the faculty and supported by partner organizations or home institutions. Students who successfully complete the course and participate in civic engagement activities will receive a certificate issued by the Bard College Center for Civic Engagement on “Voting Rights & Democracy Training.” To earn a certificate, students must submit a supervisor’s form confirming hours of participation. Minimally, students must complete 30 hours of engagement before September 1.
This is session 2 course. Deadline to register is June 5.
Credits: 3 US / 6 ECTS