Law and Society (LWSO) 591 S01
Integrative Seminar: Law and Social Health
Fall 2008
W 10:00-12:50

 

Instructor:	Lyndsay Campbell
Office Location:	SS303
Office Phone:	403.220.8889
E-Mail:	lcampbe@ucalgary.ca
Office Hours:	T 10:00-12:00 and by appointment

Additional Information

Course Description

Since this course is the integrative seminar for the Law and Society program, the overall goal is to permit students to bring to bear the whole range of their experience and knowledge in the Law and Society program to analyze social issues and write a major paper that demonstrates their expertise.

The central organizing topic of this course is the relationship of law to the health of individuals and of society as a whole. It is not, therefore, a course in health law but in how legal institutions operate with other social practices to bring about "good" ends, however those are defined. Course meetings will focus on a diverse set of topics, including bike helmets, HIV, medical marijuana, mental health, health insurance within Canadian federalism, epidemics, and aboriginal approaches to individual and social health. We will use these topics as jumping-off points to consider the promise and limitations of liberal understandings of rights against a backdrop of sociolegal and policy research. Considering issues associated with health will permit us to think about the competing interests of individuals and broader social groups, the construction of the individual within society in the liberal model, and the nature of the self that is presupposed in this model (and that can be challenged by childhood, old age, mental incapacity, and so forth). Other bodies of socio-legal critique that will be brought to bear include work on risk and economics, the sociological idea of deviance, and legal history. The course will draw from newspaper columns, legal cases, and the expertise of guest speakers, as well as scholarly work.

Objectives of the Course

• Explore the concept of "the health of society" from a number of viewpoints;
• Provide students with an opportunity to pull together the interests and expertise they have already developed and apply them to new topics;
• Introduce students to various threads in law and society research, threads that draw on political theory, the sociology of law, history, and economics;
• Ensure students are familiar with Canadian legal institutions;
• Expose students to careers that regularly require dealing with legal questions and strategies; and
• Provide students with the opportunity to develop a large writing project in a supported environment.

Textbooks and Readings:

Statutes, cases, and miscellany will generally be available on the internet.

Most scholarly articles will be available through JSTOR and other online resources accessible through the University's library catalog.

Other articles and excerpts from books will be packaged and available at the campus bookstore.

Assignments and Evaluation

• Critical Response 10%, due September 24, 2008 (week 3)
• Essay 50%, being:
• Proposal 5%, due October 1, 2008 (week 4)
• Bibliography 5%, due October 15, 2008 (week 6)
• First draft 15%, due November 5 (week 9)
• Final draft 25%, due December 3 (week 13 - last class)
• Journal 30%, completed in class each time
• Participation 10%

Each student will keep a journal for the course. The student will prepare for class by reading the assigned readings. At the beginning of each class, I will hand out the journals and each student will make a preliminary entry that comments upon these readings. The students will also have approximately 15 minutes at the conclusion of each class to formulate concluding thoughts. I will then collect the journals and assess them.

The first assignment will be a critical response to a newsworthy current issue that relates in some way to the course's broad theme of the health of society. The students will select a newspaper or magazine article and write a response to it that analyzes the author's argument, identifying its central assumptions, assessing the evidence it puts forward (or lack thereof), and identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the argument. This assignment is short - 500 words - so make each word count. I expect to see proper citations, clarity of writing style, and succinct analysis and argument.

There will be no exam in this course. The majority of the final grade will be based on one major essay, which will be completed in parts as the course goes on. This essay will be on a topic of the student's choosing that relates in some way to the subject matter of the course. Students will choose their topics, after consultation with me, by October 1. By October 15 they will have drawn up a working bibliography of approximately 7 to10 sources. The first draft will be due November 5; I will provide comments and return it. The final product will be due December 3.

The class participation mark will be based on general contributions to the class discussion and, more importantly, to preparation. Throughout the course, students will provide short but critical introductions to the readings and short, friendly introductions to any guest speakers who may come. In the second half of the course, students will make 10-minute presentations on their research projects to enable their peers to give them feedback. The participation mark is meant to encourage students to work on their oral presentation skills, since such skills are necessary in most careers that involve law, and indeed in most careers of any kind.

Writing skills will be even more important in this course, as they are essential to most careers that involve law and are a significant asset in most other realms. You will be graded for your analysis, the structure of your argument, and the grace of your prose.

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.
Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

About October 1, I will give you a short questionaire so I can get feedback on how you are finding the course, the readings and so forth.

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination: NO

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre. Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

(Revised, effective September 2008)

	Grading Scale
A+	96-100
A	90-95.99
A -	85-89.99
B+	80-84.99
B	75-79.99
B-	70-74.99
C+	65-69.99
C	60-64.99
C-	55-59.99
D+	53-54.99
D	50-52.99
F	0-49

 

Where a grade on a particular assignment is expressed as a letter grade, it will normally be converted to a number using the midpoint of the scale.  That is, A- would be converted to 87.5 for calculation purposes.  F will be converted to zero.

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines. Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research. For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see

The Faculty of Communication and Culture Research Ethics site: http://www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/ethics

or the University of Calgary Research Ethics site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/research/compliance/ethics/info/undergrad/

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

The course schedule will be handed out at the first class meeting.