University of Notre Dame Pre-College Programs Restorative Justice: A Social Movement to Transform the U.S. Criminal Justice System

A leadership course taught as an academic subject through small, discussion-based seminars, case studies and activities, where students examine leadership styles, communication, decision-making, teamwork, motivation, negotiation, ethics, emotional intelligence and responding to change. Older groups add tutorial-style teaching built around their own essays or problem sheets, and tutors shape each course around their expertise and the group's interests.

Leadership and Social Justice explores how grassroots movements transform communities, cultural norms and global systems, and how campaigns are developed, run and judged a success or failure. Through case studies of pro-democracy, gender equity, labor rights and identity movements (LGBTQ, race and immigration), students study social justice theory, community organizing, privilege and oppression, intersectionality and the political landscape at the local, state and federal levels. Hands-on leadership workshops build practical organizing skills, and the course ends with an Action Plan for change in each student's home community.

A traveling gap year in which Scholars live in a sequence of world capitals and their surrounding regions, learning from regional experts through masterclasses, workshops and excursions, taking faculty seminars in subjects from entrepreneurship to politics and creative writing, and choosing week-long Fellowships on themes such as government, finance, technology, conservation, history, art and craft. Weekly one-on-one advising, college counseling, a Life Design course and an independent Capstone Project run through the year.

A Brown Pre-College online philosophy course on the meaning of equality. Students study classic texts from Rousseau, Kant and Rawls, engage with critiques of egalitarianism from Plato and Nietzsche, and examine contemporary issues such as civil disobedience, economic and political inequality, meritocracy, and the impact of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering on equality, applying the ideas to current events through written responses, discussion and a final presentation.

A live, small-group introduction to law that moves from the purpose of the legal system, the philosophy and history of law, human rights law and corporate law to criminal law, international law, morality and legal careers, finishing with a moot and a look at law and AI.

An online precollege course on how law supports people's rights and equal opportunity. Students study the mechanics of the legal system, civil rights and the law, property ownership including intellectual property, employment law and workers' rights, educational rights, and the limits of the law around justice, with a look at careers in criminal law, civil litigation, civil rights and education law.