LAWS 783 - Law and the Urban/Rural Divide

This seminar takes an in-depth look at the segment of the country known as "Rural America" through a law and policy lens.  The purpose of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how law, policy, and place interact both in a theoretical sense and in ways that affect legal practitioners. Students will critically analyze the differences between ''urban" and "rural" places, with a focus on local government, criminal, and land use law, access to justice, and socioeconomic issues such as class, race, and livelihoods.  Students will also develop a deeper understanding of the historical laws and policies that shaped modern rural America, as well as current rural policy challenges, such as the opioid crisis.  The last segment of the course will involve examination of case studies that illustrate the issues covered in the course, potentially to include disputes between ranchers and federal agencies in the West and the criminal trials of members of the Bundy family.