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Course Info for FYSM - 105 - 01, Fall 2025
Class number: 3338 Title: Prohibitions Department: First Year Sem & Colloq
Career: Undergraduate Component: Seminar Session: Regular
Instructor's Permission Required: Yes Grading Basis: Graded Units: 1.00
Enrollment limited to 15 Current enrollment: 14 Available seats: 1
Start date: Tuesday, September 2, 2025 End date: Wednesday, December 17, 2025 Mode of Instruction: In Person
Schedule: MWF: 9:00AM-9:50AM, HHN - 105 Instructor(s): Alcorn, John
Prerequisite(s): Only first-year students are eligible to enroll in this class.
Distribution Requirement: Meets FirstYr Seminar Requirement
Course Description:
This seminar tackles two questions: Why do we outlaw some consensual behaviors by adults? And should we? We will examine “vices” (alcohol, drugs, and gambling), “repugnant markets” (commerce in sex, organs for transplantation, and adoption), and prohibitions against guns, advertising, and open international labor migration. Students will learn fundamentals of social science and will practice constructing perspicuous arguments. To punctuate the course, students will conduct policy debates during Trinity’s Common Hour. This is an experimental First-Year seminar that mixes traditional seminar meetings, public debates, multimedia instruction, and workshops in which students will learn to create polished virtual presentations of their final projects.