Southern Utah University

Course Syllabus

Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Fall Semester 2025

American National Government (Face-to-Face)

POLS 1100-05

Course: POLS 1100-05
Credits: 3
Term: Fall Semester 2025
Department: PSCJ
CRN: 32459

Course Description

Source of democratic ideas and principles of the constitutional system. Cultural, group, party, and governmental influences on the process of public policymaking. The administration and impact of public policy. (Fall, Spring, Summer) [Graded (Standard Letter)] Registration Restriction(s): Intensive English Program majors may not enroll General Education Category: American Institutions

Instructor Information

Office Hours: MWF 12:30pm - 3:00pm
Additional Office Hours by appointment
Office: GC 406A 

Required Texts

Textbook: Ginsberg, Benjamin, Lowi, Theodore J., Weir, Margaret, Tolbert, Caroline J., and Campbell, Andrea L. 2025. "We the People". 15th edition. Norton & Company. ISBN: 9781324085454. (Hereafter referred to as "WTP")

This course makes use of Inclusive Access, allowing students to rent digital versions of the textbook through the Canvas course page at a potentially cheaper rate. Students are not required to purchase/rent any specific format of the text, so long as they are able to do the readings at the start of the course.

Learning Outcomes

Students will gain fundamental understandings of:
  • American institutions, including the Constitution and the functioning of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches;
  • Bureaucracies, political parties, and interest groups;
  • Population studies and congressional redistricting;
  • Public policymaking;
  • The scientific study of politics

Course Requirements

Grading Policy


The final numeric grade will map to the final letter grade according to SUU's standard number to-letter grade conversion scheme. Final grades ending in .5 or higher are  automatically rounded up to the nearest whole percentage point.

A: 94-100
A-: 90-93
B+: 87-89
B: 84-86 
B-: 80-83 
C+: 77-79 
C: 74-76 
C-: 70-73  
D+: 67-69 
D: 64-66 
D-: 60-63
F: 0-59  

The final course grade will be based on the following breakdown:
  • Exams: 30% (2 at 15% each)
  • Community Mapping Project: 25%
  • Group Redistricting Project: 25%
  • Preparedness: 10%
  • Class Activities: 10%

Exams


There will be two exams, both of which are equally weighted. They will be in-class, and the dates are scheduled in the syllabus. The format of each exam will be multiple choice and may include short essays and will include any material covered since the last exam. A review day will precede each exam. Exam material will cover concepts, theories, and results from the readings, as well as material from the lectures and reading guides.

Students are expected to be present for all exams at the beginning of the exam period. Students will be allotted the entire class period for the exam. A ten-minute grace period will apply for the beginning of all exam periods. After the initial ten minutes have expired, students will be penalized 10% for arriving late for an exam. Absences or late arrivals for exams will only be excused for participation in formally sanctioned University events, or extraordinary events if they are accompanied by sufficient documentation within two calendar days of the absence or late arrival. The instructor reserves the right to determine what constitutes an extraordinary circumstance as well as what shall be considered “sufficient documentation.” If they have been excused for their absence, students will have five working days to make up a missed exam. If there are extraordinary circumstances, which would prevent the student from making up the exam in five working days, the instructor must be informed of this fact prior to the expiration of the five day period. The instructor reserves the right to administer makeup exams of any format (multiple choice, short answer, essay), which may not necessarily correspond to the original exam’s format. If a student misses an exam and does not have an excused absence, the student will receive a zero for the exam. 

Community Mapping Project


This project will have students explore their communities through the lenses of institutions and issue areas. There are two parts to this assignment.

Part 1 of your Community Mapping Project asks you to create a Google map of your community as you define it with: (1) at least 7 major landmarks and institutions and (2) at least 7 important institutions and organizations at work in a political issue area of your choosing. Your map will include a minimum of 2 sentences caption and photo/graphic/video for each location you map along with a 1 sentence credit or explanation for each photo/graphic/video. This portion of the project is worth 15% of the final grade.

For Part 2, you will write a descriptive narrative of your community (250 words), an identification of major debates and controversies related to your chosen issue area (250 words), and a reflective discussion of the assets in your community as well as the developments and reforms you would like to see in your community (250 words). Showcase the evidence you have found in your research of government websites and reputable news media articles. This portion of the project is worth 10% of the final grade (Part 1 + Part 2 = 25% of the final grade).

Further instructions will be given in class and on Canvas.


Group Redistricting Project


Students will be randomly assigned to groups of 5 – 6 after the add/drop period. This project will make use of Dave's Redistricting Application (DRA) (LINK), a non-partisan and free digital resource used to redraw congressional district boundaries. Students will examine concepts like "gerrymandering", "fairness", population dynamics, institutions of representation and others.

The project is divided into two parts. The first part involves the group creating a "map portfolio" by submitting several maps using the DRA, including individual reports based on the maps they create. The map portfolio is worth 15% of the final grade.

The next part of the assignment is a presentation, where students will take on the rolls of advocacy or consultancy groups tasked with "pitching" a new drawing of district boundaries to the state legislature. Presentations will be roughly 10 minutes in length, and should be accurate, professional, and well-practiced. The presentation is worth 10% of the final grade. (Map Portfolio + Presentation = 25% of the final grade).

Students will be responsible for equal proportions of the project and will submit anonymous evaluations of the other group members to ensure each member has contributed their fair share. Final grades for the project will be weighted by the responses of your peers, based on your contributions to the project.

Preparedness


Preparedness will be graded based on the students’ performance during daily “RNG of Destiny” questions. Daily questions will be pulled from the reading for that day, and a set of randomly-selected students will need to answer these questions. Students are guaranteed full preparedness points unless they are called upon during the daily questions and either a) fail to answer the question acceptably, or b) are absent without a university-approved excuse. Some students may never be called upon to answer a question, some students may be randomly-selected multiple times. Therefore, each student must come prepared, having done the reading, or risk losing preparedness points. Preparedness is worth 10% of the final grade. Additional instructions will be provided in class. 

Class Activities

There will be several class activities throughout the semester. These activities may consist of think-pair-share, 1-minute essays, civil debates, group discussions and others. Activities will be short and isolated to single classes. As these activities necessitate individual participation during class, no make-ups will be accepted (Excused university absences exempted).

Course Outline

The course schedule is tentative and subject to change with advance notice. Exam dates will not be moved.

Week 1: Aug 27-29

  • Aug 27: Course introduction + syllabus day
  • Aug 29: READ: WTP Chp 1 "Americans and their Political Values"

Week 2: Sept 1-5

  • NO CLASS Sept 1 - LABOR DAY
  • Sept 3: Lecture READ: WTP Chp 2 "The Founding and the Constitution"
  • Sept 5: Lecture

Week 3:Sept 8-12

  • Sept 8: Lecture READ: WTP Chp 3 "Federalism"
  • Sept 10: Lecture
  • Sept 12: Community Mapping Project Overview + Example

Week 4: Sept 15-19

  • Sept 15:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 4 "Civil Liberties"
  • Sept 17: Lecture
  • Sept 19: Lecture

Week 5: Sept 22-26

  • Sept 22: Lecture READ: WTP Chp 5 "Civil Rights"
  • Sept 24: Lecture
  • Sept 26: Lecture
  • Community Mapping Project Part 1 due Sunday, Sept 28 at 11:59pm

Week 6: Sept 29-Oct 3

  • Sept 29:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 6 "Public Opinion" 
  • Oct 1: Lecture
  • Oct 3: Lecture

Week 7: Oct 6-10

  • Oct 6: Lecture READ: WTP Chp 7 "The Media and Public Information"
  • Oct 8: Midterm Review
  • Oct 10: Exam 1
  • Exam 1 (Midterm): Friday, Oct 10.

Week 8: Oct 13-17

  • NO CLASS OCT 13 - FALL BREAK
  • Oct 15:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 8: "Political Parties and Interest Groups"
  • Oct 17: Group Redistricting Activity Overview + Example

Week 9: Oct 20-24

  • Oct 20:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 9 "Participation, Campaigns, and Elections"
  • Oct 22: Lecture
  • Oct 24: Group Redistricting Activity Additional Examples

Week 10: Oct 27-31

  • Oct 27:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 10 "Congress"
  • Oct 29: Lecture
  • Oct 31: Group Redistricting Activity class work time 

Week 11: Nov 3-7

  • Nov 3:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 11 "The Presidency"
  • Nov 5: Lecture
  • Nov 7: Group Redistricting Activity class work time 
  • Group Redistricting Project Part 1 (Map Portfolio) due Sunday, Nov 9 at 11:59pm.


Week 12: Nov 10-14

  • Nov 10:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 12 "The Bureaucracy"
  • Nov 12: Lecture
  • Nov 14: Lecture
  • Community Mapping Project Part 2 due Sunday, Nov 16 at 11:59pm.

Week 13: Nov 17-21

  • Nov 17:  Lecture READ: WTP Chp 13 "The Federal Courts"
  • Nov 19: Lecture
  • Nov 21: Lecture

Week 14: Nov 24-28

  • NO CLASS ALL WEEK - THANKSGIVING

Week 15: Dec 1-5

  • Dec 1: Group Redistricting Project Presentations (first batch)
  • Dec 3:  Group Redistricting Project Presentations (second batch) 
  • Dec 5: Final Review Day + Course Wrap-Up
  • Group Redistricting Project Presentations due morning of presentation, at start of class.

Final Exam

  • Thursday, Dec 11: 9:00am - 10:50am

Instructor's policies on late assignments and/or makeup work

A late penalty of 10% per day late will be assessed for missing deadlines associated with the Community Mapping Project and Group Redistricting Project.

Make-up work for the Class Activities and Preparedness portions of the grade will not be accepted.

Attendance Policy

Excused absences include documented illness, deaths in the family, and other documented crises, call to active military duty or jury duty, religious holy days, and official University activities. These absences will be accommodated in a way that does not arbitrarily penalize students who have a valid written excuse. Consideration will also be given to students whose dependent children experience serious illness.

Class Policies

Students are responsible for planning ahead by checking the syllabus for upcoming readings and assignments. Students are responsible for all assigned readings. Therefore, it is imperative that students complete all readings and integrate them into the course as applicable. In addition, all students are responsible to contribute to a positive learning environment for fellow students. The instructor retains the right to ask a student to leave the classroom if the student is negatively contributing to the learning environment. Cellular phones going off in class are distractions that contribute negatively to the class setting - be sure to turn off your electronic devices at the beginning of each class period.

Students are responsible for checking rubrics for formatting requirements prior to submission. If assignment files are illegible, corrupted, uploaded to the wrong location, blank, or "wrong versions", they will be treated as late and the Late Policy will apply. To avoid issues, be sure to review your assignments after submission. Links to externally stored files (e.g. GoogleDocs) will not be accepted

AI Policy

This course assumes that work submitted for a grade by students – all process work, drafts, brainstorming artifacts, final works – will be generated by the students themselves, working individually or in groups as directed by class assignment instructions. This policy indicates the following constitute violations of academic honesty: a student has another person/entity do the work of any substantive portion of a graded assignment for them, which includes purchasing work from a company, hiring a person or company to complete an assignment or exam, and/or using generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT).

Syllabus Change Policy

Except for changes that substantially affect implementation of the evaluation (grading) statement, this syllabus is a guide for the course and is subject to change with advance notice. 

ADA Statement

Students with medical, psychological, learning, or other disabilities desiring academic adjustments, accommodations, or auxiliary aids will need to contact the Disability Resource Center, located in Room 206F of the Sharwan Smith Center or by phone at (435) 865-8042. The Disability Resource Center determines eligibility for and authorizes the provision of services.

If your instructor requires attendance, you may need to seek an ADA accommodation to request an exception to this attendance policy. Please contact the Disability Resource Center to determine what, if any, ADA accommodations are reasonable and appropriate.

Academic Credit

According to the federal definition of a Carnegie credit hour: A credit hour of work is the equivalent of approximately 60 minutes of class time or independent study work. A minimum of 45 hours of work by each student is required for each unit of credit. Credit is earned only when course requirements are met. One (1) credit hour is equivalent to 15 contact hours of lecture, discussion, testing, evaluation, or seminar, as well as 30 hours of student homework. An equivalent amount of work is expected for laboratory work, internships, practica, studio, and other academic work leading to the awarding of credit hours. Credit granted for individual courses, labs, or studio classes ranges from 0.5 to 15 credit hours per semester.

Academic Freedom

SUU is operated for the common good of the greater community it serves. The common good depends upon the free search for truth and its free exposition. Academic Freedom is the right of faculty to study, discuss, investigate, teach, and publish. Academic Freedom is essential to these purposes and applies to both teaching and research.

Academic Freedom in the realm of teaching is fundamental for the protection of the rights of the faculty member and of you, the student, with respect to the free pursuit of learning and discovery. Faculty members possess the right to full freedom in the classroom in discussing their subjects. They may present any controversial material relevant to their courses and their intended learning outcomes, but they shall take care not to introduce into their teaching controversial materials which have no relation to the subject being taught or the intended learning outcomes for the course.

As such, students enrolled in any course at SUU may encounter topics, perspectives, and ideas that are unfamiliar or controversial, with the educational intent of providing a meaningful learning environment that fosters your growth and development. These parameters related to Academic Freedom are included in SUU Policy 6.6.

Academic Misconduct

Scholastic honesty is expected of all students. Dishonesty will not be tolerated and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent (see SUU Policy 6.33). You are expected to have read and understood the current SUU student conduct code (SUU Policy 11.2) regarding student responsibilities and rights, the intellectual property policy (SUU Policy 5.52), information about procedures, and what constitutes acceptable behavior.

Please Note: The use of websites or services that sell essays is a violation of these policies; likewise, the use of websites or services that provide answers to assignments, quizzes, or tests is also a violation of these policies. Regarding the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), you should check with your individual course instructor.

Emergency Management Statement

In case of an emergency, the University's Emergency Notification System (ENS) will be activated. Students are encouraged to maintain updated contact information using the link on the homepage of the mySUU portal. In addition, students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the Emergency Response Protocols posted in each classroom. Detailed information about the University's emergency management plan can be found at https://www.suu.edu/emergency.

HEOA Compliance Statement

For a full set of Higher Education Opportunity Act (HEOA) compliance statements, please visit https://www.suu.edu/heoa. The sharing of copyrighted material through peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing, except as provided under U.S. copyright law, is prohibited by law; additional information can be found at https://my.suu.edu/help/article/1096/heoa-compliance-plan.

You are also expected to comply with policies regarding intellectual property (SUU Policy 5.52) and copyright (SUU Policy 5.54).

Mandatory Reporting

University policy (SUU Policy 5.60) requires instructors to report disclosures received from students that indicate they have been subjected to sexual misconduct/harassment. The University defines sexual harassment consistent with Federal Regulations (34 C.F.R. Part 106, Subpart D) to include quid pro quo, hostile environment harassment, sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, and stalking. When students communicate this information to an instructor in-person, by email, or within writing assignments, the instructor will report that to the Title IX Coordinator to ensure students receive support from the Title IX Office. A reporting form is available at https://cm.maxient.com/reportingform.php?SouthernUtahUniv

Non-Discrimination Statement

SUU is committed to fostering an inclusive community of lifelong learners and believes our university's encompassing of different views, beliefs, and identities makes us stronger, more innovative, and better prepared for the global society.

SUU does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, sex (including sex discrimination and sexual harassment), sexual orientation, gender identity, age, ancestry, disability status, pregnancy, pregnancy-related conditions, genetic information, military status, veteran status, or other bases protected by applicable law in employment, treatment, admission, access to educational programs and activities, or other University benefits or services.

SUU strives to cultivate a campus environment that encourages freedom of expression from diverse viewpoints. We encourage all to dialogue within a spirit of respect, civility, and decency.

For additional information on non-discrimination, please see SUU Policy 5.27 and/or visit https://www.suu.edu/nondiscrimination.

Pregnancy

Students who are or become pregnant during this course may receive reasonable modifications to facilitate continued access and participation in the course. Pregnancy and related conditions are broadly defined to include pregnancy, childbirth, termination of pregnancy, lactation, related medical conditions, and recovery. To obtain reasonable modifications, please make a request to title9@suu.edu. To learn more visit: https://www.suu.edu/titleix/pregnancy.html.

Disclaimer Statement

Information contained in this syllabus, other than the grading, late assignments, makeup work, and attendance policies, may be subject to change with advance notice, as deemed appropriate by the instructor.