Governing the Self and Others: Notes on the Deep Springs Model

Join us for the 2025-2026 Endowed Faculty Lecture Series! On Thursday, December 4, Joel Schlosser, Professor of Political Science and Fairbank Professorship in the Humanities, will present Governing the Self and Others: Notes on the Deep Springs Model. A reception will be held after the lecture in the Old Library London Room. About the Lecture: How, if at all, are democratic citizens prepared for the work of self-governance? How can educational institutions hold space for disagreement and difference even while initiating participants into the project of collaborative collective life? What other dimensions of political culture support and develop virtuous democratic citizenship? This project examines what I call the Deep Springs Model, an approach to educating leaders that integrates labor, academics, and self-governance; this research draws on nearly fifteen years of working with this model as a professor, mentor, and consultant.