By Kylie Tuttle, The Daily Athenaeum
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 3297 on April 12, establishing a civics center at WVU if signed by Gov. Patrick Morrisey.
The bill requires the University to fund and operate the “Washington Center for Civics, Culture, and Statesmanship,” an independent center that would teach students “political philosophy, constitutional governance, economic thought, western history and culture, and the principles that inform republican self-government,” according to the bill’s text.
The bill will offer courses for students and potential “certificate, minor, major, and graduate programs” and degrees, according to its text. The center will also work with the University to offer a statesmanship minor that will “study the principles of our republican government.”
The University is required to provide the necessary infrastructure, classroom space and office space for the center.
The unit will act independently from the University, with the authority to house tenure-track faculty. The unit will require no fewer than five tenure-track faculty positions, according to the bill’s text.
