Date June 30, 2026

Fall 2026 practitioner-led study groups

These not-for-credit study groups provide an opportunity for students to delve deeply into topics and apply theory and research to real-world challenges. Enrollment in each group is limited to 25 students.

Antitrust, Big Tech, and the Fight for Democracy: Inside the House Judiciary Antitrust Investigation
David Cicilline
Meeting dates are Tuesdays on 10/6, 10/13, 10/27, 11/10 and 11/17 from 4:00-5:30pm in McKinney Conference Room (353).
Registration closes September 28.

This five-session study group goes inside the U.S. House Judiciary Committee's landmark investigation into competition in digital markets - the most significant congressional antitrust inquiry in half a century. Led from the inside by David N. Cicilline, who chaired the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, the group combines a firsthand account of how the investigation and the legislative fight that followed actually unfolded with the underlying law, economics, and politics. We will examine why antitrust enforcement atrophied over four decades, what the investigation found about Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google, why the legislative push to act on those findings stalled in 2022, and how concentrated economic power in digital markets connects to concentrated political power through lobbying and campaign spending, through Section 230's shield for platform speech, and through the algorithmic amplification of misinformation. We close by asking where enforcement stands today and what a renewed effort could look like.

Leading in a Time of Crisis
Ivan Duque
Meeting dates are 10/13, 10/14, 11/2 and 11/4 from 10:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. in Birkelund Boardroom (140).
Registration closes October 5.

This study group offers Brown students the opportunity to learn first hand the process of decision-making under pressure in a middle-income democracy directly from a former head of state. Across four sessions, President Duque draws on his own experience — and on the wider record of leadership in Latin America and beyond — to explore what it means to lead often under uncertainty when choices are hard and the stakes are the highest.

Climate Change in an Energy Insecure World
Deborah Gordon
Meeting dates are Mondays on 10/5, 10/19, 10/26, 11/1 and 11/9 from 10:00-11:30am in McKinney Conference Room (353).
Registration closes September 28.

The goal of this study group is to discuss the complex interactions and tenuous balance between energy, economic, and climate security. Understanding these intersecting security goals requires dynamic thinking and a lens with multiple perspectives: technological, financial, and policy. We will discuss why it has proven hard to transition away from oil and gas—and what near-term strategies can better balance energy and climate goals. Participants will receive a copy of No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World.

How to Help Millions of People: Human Rights at Scale / Frontiers of Human Rights
Jaykumar Menon
Meeting dates are Thursdays on 10/1, 10/15, 10/29, 11/5 & 11/12 from 2:30 - 4:00 p.m. in McKinney Conference Room (353).
Additional optional sessions on Wednesday, 11/11 and Thursday, 12/3.
Registration closes September 25.

This study group explores a central question: how can one person, in a single lifetime, help millions or even billions of people? Given the scale of global challenges, including gaps in health care, food access, education, governance and human rights, the facilitator argues the question is worth taking seriously. Drawing on personal experience and an evolving, imperfect set of approaches shaped in part by an undergraduate philosophy course, Jaykumar Menon will share stories, frameworks and real-world context to guide discussion. Sessions will use a human rights lens, broadly defined, to examine these issues and encourage students to connect theory with practice.

The 2026 Midterms: American Democracy or American Authoritarianism? The battle between Trump, election officials, judges and journalists
David Rohde
Meeting dates are Thursdays on 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 11/19, 12/3, 12/10 from 4:00-5:30 p.m. in Kim Koo Library (328).
Registration closes September 21.

This study group will examine the 2026 midterm elections as a real-time test of American democracy, debating whether President Trump's actions before, during and after the vote strengthen or undermine public trust. Sessions will feature guest speakers, including judges, journalists and election officials, and will trace developments from pre-election disputes over fairness to post-election battles over vote counts and results.